The James Potter Series
by Beauxbatons Fan Fiction
Summary: The James Potter series!! The full 7 years that are all about James and his adventures at Hogwarts.
1. James Potter and the Vanishing Professor...

**JAMES POTTER AND THE VANISHING PROFESSOR: YEAR 1**

by Professor Odysseus

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It was midnight on a midsummer's night. James Potter tossed and turned in his sleep.

"JAMES!" a voice rasped at him. James woke up in an instant. His best friend, Sirius Black, was outside his window on his Cleansweep 3.

"What? What?" he cried. "Go away Sirius. I'm trying to sleep!"

"Come on! Get your broom! We'll be in Zonko's in 5 minutes. Just a little birthday treat for you!"

"Sirius. Its July. My birthday's the 17th of March."

"Come on! Just for fun?" Sirius asked. "Get out your Cleansweep 5! I want to see it! Best broom, it is!"

"I'll show it to you in the morning!"

"PLEASE!?" Sirius asked.

"Okay. I'm out of joke toffee anyway!"

"Good! Meet me on the corner of the street!" Sirius said as he fluttered down to the street. James quickly dressed, then pulled out his Cleansweep 5. The Cleansweep 5 was the newest racing broom, which James had gotten for his birthday on March 17th.

James flew out of his window and joined Sirius. As they flew into downtown Hogsmeade, they landed on the shake roof of Zonko's Joke Shop. They climbed down the roof and opened the door to Zonko's. Zonko's Joke Shop was filled with all of the latest jokes such as joke toffee, which James refilled his small bag with. The joke toffee came in different kinds, such as shrinking, tongue-enlarging, burping and dancing to the songs from Snow Witch and the Seven Dwarfs.

Flying back home at about 1:00, James said goodnight to Sirius and went back to bed.

James slept until 10:00. His mother came in to wake him up.

"James! You got an owl from Hogwarts!" Mrs. Potter motioned towards the castle on the hill through James' window. "You've been accepted!"

James, who was groggy one minute ago, was suddenly wide awake. His owl, Neptune, stood hooting.

"I'll go tell Sirius-"

"Not without breakfast, James!" Mrs. Potter said.

"Oh FINE!" James said. They went downstairs and James quickly wolfed down his breakfast. He ran upstairs, got dressed and glanced at Sirius' window (Sirius lived next door) and saw that Sirius was still asleep. Jumping on his broomstick, he flew into Sirius' open window.

"HI SIRIUS!" James shouted in Sirius' ear. Sirius was so startled, he literately fell out of bed. Sirius' cat Odysseus began meowing, for James' had woken him up too.

"Wassamatter?" Sirius yelled. "James?!"

"Hi Sirius! Guess what? I've been accepted to Hogwarts!"

"Really? Cool!"

Just then, an owl raced into his room and threw down a letter and quickly flew towards the massive castle on the hill. It had the same purple seal. Sirius read for a second.

"Me too!" Sirius said with glee.

The days passed and soon, it was time to go to Diagon Alley for school supplies. Sirius and James were sitting on James' roof, looking over their lists of supplies.

Mrs. Black and Mrs. Potter apparated onto the roof.

"Time to go!" Mrs. Black said.

They all walked down to the Black's fireplace and ran through it shouting "Diagon Alley" as they went. Soon they were in Diagon Alley, a bustling street filled with shops and people. Diagon Alley was the capital of Wizard Shops.

Sirius and James looked over their lists and dragged their mothers all of the shops. After hours of shopping, they were finally done. As the mothers went up to the Leaky Cauldron for some tea, Mrs. Potter told James to go and buy something, if he wanted to.

"So. What should I buy?" James asked.

"Hey, look!" Sirius said. On the corner of Diagon Alley and Susdy Alley, there was a sign pointing to a dusty shop. "Curios" the sign said. It pointed down Sudsy Alley, which was the main shopping street for second hand stores.

"Let's go!" Sirius and James said. They walked into the shop. An old bell rang.

"Welcome to the Curiosity Shop!" said a small, pale wizard with white hair. "We're going out of business. That table is 5 galleons!"

He had 7 galleons and 4 sickles. As he rummaged through the table, his hand fell on an old, clear cloak.

"What's this?" James said.

"That?" the old wizard said. "It's an invisibility cloak! Only few made. Don't know how one turned up here"

"I'll take it!" James blurted.

"5 galleons, please!" the old wizard said. James gave him the money and he and Sirius slipped under the cloak. They were completely invisible. Tucking the cloak in the bag, They walked to the Leaky Cauldron, telling their mothers they had gotten candy and eaten it.

"Honestly, James! You have such as sweet tooth!" They all walked back through a fireplace and were now in Sirius' living room.

The month past and Sirius and James were now ready to go to Hogwarts. They're parents walked them to the train on Platform 9 and ¾."Goodbye!" said Mr. Potter.

"Have fun!" said Mr. Black.

"Owl us!" said Mrs. Black and Mrs. Potter.

The red engine pulled away from the station. Sirius and James were in the last compartment talking.

"I got a whole bag of Dungbombs from Zonko's. I can't wait for someone to try it out on!"

"Ooo! Dungbombs! I'm gonna tell a professor when we get at Hogwarts. You wouldn't want to be expelled on the first day!" said a hook nosed kid, who was walking into their compartment. "Unless I have a toffee!"

"Oh, please don't tell on us! Here. We'll give you some candy!" Sirius said in an innocent voice. James bit his sleeve to keep from laughing. James gave the hook nosed boy some toffee.

"I'm Severus. Severus Snape," the hook nosed boy said.

"Pleased to meet you!" said Sirius in his innocent voice. Snape left the compartment.

"Boy is he stupid!" Sirius said. "He actually fell for the 'pleased to meet you!' What a nerd!"

James lifted his head up and was laughing so hard, that he fell out of his seat, onto the floor, with a thud.

"The candy-" James said.

"What?" Sirius asked curiously.

"It was- burping toffee!" James laughed.

Soon, the train skidded to a stop and Sirius and James got out.

"Foller me, ferst years!" said a very large giant. "I'm Hagrid. Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Now, ferst years, over here!"

James and Sirius walked over to Hagrid and the first years all came into the Great Hall, where the students were already formed.

"Welcome to the Sorting!" said a man with long brown hair and a long brown beard. The hair and beard were both specked with gray. "I'm Albus Dumbledore. Now, this is my first year as headmaster, but I have been at this school as a transfiguration teacher, so I know all of the ropes. Professor Dippet was sorry he had to leave, but he wanted to retire. He's been teaching here since 1941, a total of 30 years." Dumbledore held up a plaque that said "Armando Dippet: At Hogwarts 1941-1971."

"I would like to introduce the new Transfiguration teacher. Mary McGonagall!" Dumbledore said pointing at a lady with black hair, put into a tight bun.

"It's Minerva!" she said.

"Yes, of course!" said Dumbledore. "Now, the Sorting Hat!"

On the stool was a ripped up hat. It was in very poor condition. It looked about 1000 years old.

"Gryffindor's the best! I've heard, anyway." Sirius told James. "And Slytherin's the worst."

A rip opened near the brim of the hat.

"Welcome, students, from far and wide! Come on up to me, you may stride.

Come put me on and you will see,

In which house you should be!

You might be in Gryffindor,

Yes they are very brave there.

Just ask them to a dare!

You could go to Ravenclaw,

They are clever there, yes, yes, yes.

Rowena Ravenclaw thought they were the bes'.

Or maybe you're for Hufflepuff,

They are great friends,

They'll be loyal, unless you're a fiend.

Or perhaps in Slytherin,

They are a Machiavellian bunch, of course.

They do things, without a bit of remorse.

So wherever you belong,

You'll find out after this song.

Try me on and you shall see,

Where you ought to be!"

The school burst into applause, and McGonagall began to call names.

"Abner, Jill!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled the hat.

"Black, Sirius!"

"Alright, Sirius!" James whispered, as Sirius passed on by James.

"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the hat.

The hat passed on many more names.

"Lupin, Remus!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Lynard, Richard!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Morris, John!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Narino, Wilma!"

"RAVENCLAW

"Pettigrew, Peter!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, James!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat screamed. James walked over to the Gryffindor table, next to Sirius and two other boys, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. The names kept being called.

"Rolins, Lily!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The names passed on again.

"Snape, Severus!" said McGonagall. The greasy haired, hook nosed boy from the train stepped up to hat. Suddenly, James toffee took action. Snape put the hat on. Snape let out a loud burp. The entire school started cracking up and through parchment balls at him.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Snoopson, Sarah!" A gigantic first year, who was about six feet tall, came up and squeezed the hat on.

"Oooh! Tight!" the hat yelled, as Snoopson, Sarah squeezed the hat on. "SLYTHERIN!"

The hat continued on through the end of the Sorting, until the sorting was over.

"I'm so happy we're in the same house!" James said, as he bit into a piece of chicken.

"Hi! I'm Remus Lupin!" said the sandy-brown haired boy.

"I'm Peter Pettigrew!" said the small boy with a squeaky voice.

"Hi!" James said. "James Potter!"

"Sirius Black!" Sirius said.

Dumbledore came back on with the announcements. "And also, I would like to warn you about a new addition to our campus. The Whomping Willow. It's a tree with an attitude. So please, stay away from it."

After the feast, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus wheeled their trunks up to the Gryffindor common room. A young, skinny lady in a pink dress stood in the picture.

"I'm the Fat Lady!" she said. Sirius gave a weird look at the skinny Fat Lady.

"You're not fat" Sirius said.

"What's your name, little boy?" she asked.

"Sirius Black!"

"Sirius, LAY OFF!" she shouted. The Gryffindor prefect came walking through the hallway.

"Password's 'Tropical Fish' everyone!" The Fat Lady's portrait flew open and all of the Gryffindors came in.

The Gryffindor common room was a huge room, with a warm fire in the hearth and squashy armchairs. There were two staircases, one leading up to the boys' dorms and one leading up to the girls' dorm. Sirius, Peter, Remus and James all went upstairs to their dorm, which was marked by a sign 'First Years.' As they opened the door, there were four four-poster beds, which James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all took, in that order. They all unpacked their trunks, then collapsed onto their beds and fell asleep at once.

The next morning, James looked at his schedule. He had Potions, then Astronomy, and Transfiguration this morning. As he pulled on his robes, he walked with Sirius and Remus to potions. It was in a dungeon, down below the school.

"Have you seen who teaches it yet?" James asked, as they walked down the stairs. He glanced back quickly. Peter Pettigrew was following them closely.

"Why does that Pettigrew guy keep following us?" James said, as he picked up the pace. "You'd think he's stalking us!" Remus and Sirius started walking fast, deep in conversation. As James ran to keep up with them, his backpack caught on a suit of armor. It split in half. He grumbled, as he picked up his books. His ink jar had shattered, but missed his books. As he carried the books in front of him, he could scarcely see. Ahead of him, there was a girl, Lily Rolins. She was holding a stack of books as well, she had came from the library. SPLAT! James and Lily crashed into one another, causing their books to fly upwards. Lily had an ink jar on top of her books. It spilled all over them.

"SORRY!" they both cried at once.

"Are you okay?" said Lily, as she gathered up her books. "Now where's my dictionary?"

"I'm fine!" James said. Lily's dictionary came crashing onto James' head.

"Sorry!" she cried again, grabbing the dictionary. "Do you know the way to the potions room?"

"I was just going there!" James said, pointing down the hall. They began walking. "Sorry about that!" James said again.

"No it's okay! It was my fault!" Lily said. "You look familiar. Are you in Gryffindor? I'm Lily Rolins, by the way!"

"I'm James Potter. And yeah. I'm in Gryffindor. We have double potions with Slytherins, right? Do you know who the teacher is?"

"Yup! There's a kid named Severus Snape in Slytherin. His dad teaches potions," Lily said. James' heart sank. If Snape's dad taught here, then he would know all about the toffee. That wasn't good.

"This is it!" James said, as he walked into the potions room.

"Where were you?" Sirius asked. James told about the book incident. Sirius started laughing. His laughs stopped as Peter Pettigrew walked into the room.

"Ask someone to come here! That Peter Pettigrew is so annoying!" Remus rasped. However, Peter sat down at their cauldron.

Sirius, Remus and James were all very talented wizards. James and Sirius being slightly better than Remus, they were all in the same class of talent. Peter, however was many levels below. He was a klutz. He knocked over the cauldron once they first started, put too many porcupine quills into the cauldron, causing it to explode.

Professor Snape kept giving Sirius and James evil eyes. Severus was laughing every time their cauldron blew up.

"Add five drops of dragon blood!" Professor Snape said. Before James could stop him, Peter started with the drops. Clumsily dropping the bottle into the potion, the potion bubbled. Peter tried to fish out the bottle, but he dropped a unicorn hair into the potion. The potion furiously bubbled, then exploded. Through the smoke, James made out a twisted blob of pewter. Peter had big blotches all over himself. As Professor Snape directed him to the hospital wing. Remus, Sirius and James, being the three most talented wizards in their year, caught up to the class quickly. Professor Snape babbled on and on.

"Now, if you produced a good potion, it will shrink this log into a twig," Professor Snape motioned to a pile of logs. He picked up a long log. "Now!" he said, smugly. "We'll try Severus!" Severus moved pushed his three friends over and smiled, as his father dipped the log in and pulled out a twig. He smiled at Severus. "Good job, Severus!" he said. "Now! Let's try Miss Rolins, Miss Rancine and Miss Johanson! Lily Rolins and her two friends Maggie Rancine and Jill Johanson shoved their cauldron towards Professor Snape. It worked. Professor Snape pulled out the twig. Severus took out a dungbomb and threw it towards James, Sirius and Remus. It bounced of the corner of the table. Sirius gave Severus a look that plainly said "Missed us! Ha!" Severus, however, looked far from disappointment. It hit Professor Snape right on his cheek.

"50 points from Gryffindor!" Professor Snape spat. "And a detention! I'll be speaking to Dumbledore about this!" Sirius, Remus and James were very miserable the entire class.

"He is sooo mean!" James rasped, when they were in the entrance hall. Lily and her friends came running up to them.

"Severus is such an idiot!" Lily said, blinking her green eyes. Her red hair was down at her shoulders. "He meant for you to get in trouble!" James assured her that it was okay and she walked away.

"I think she likes you!" Sirius said, nudging James. James turned red.

"She's just sorry because she spilled ink all over me and almost knocked me out with her dictionary!" James protested. Remus and Sirius laughed.

"We're just kidding!" Sirius said, laughing. They walked on to Transfiguration.

"Hello. I'm Professor McGonagall. Now, today, open your books. Does anyone know what anamagi is?" Lily raised her hand.

"It's a wizard who can change into an animal!" Lily answered, brushing a lock of bright red hair behind her ear.

"Good! 5 points to Gryffindor. Now, an anamagi can take anywhere from a year to five years. Then you must register." McGonagall said. She rambled on and on. After the hour and a half was over, Sirius, James and Remus, with Peter at their heels, they walked to Astronomy. Professor Dimente was very perky. In robes of yellow, with a green cloak, a red bowler and blue shoes, all in neon, he was incredibly perky.

"TONIGHT!" he said, in his high, perky voice. "Is the night of the full moon!" Remus' color drained. Dimente looked through the telescope. "AH! The planets are in alignment!"

The class took turns looking through one of the brass telescopes. "Oooh!" mocked Sirius. "The sun is bright today!" James and Remus cracked up at Sirius' imitation of Dimente. The class passed by, oh so slowly.

Lunch that day was delicious. James reached into his pocket and pulled out a small parcel.

"What is it?" Sirius and Remus asked.

"Yeah, what is it?" Peter asked, in his squeaky voice. James scowled.

"It's an exploding stink pellet!" James said. When he unwraps it, it will explode and squirt him with Fragrance of Skunk. He stuck out his wand and an owl came, picked up the parcel, and dropped it by Severus. Severus acted very snobbishly, as if he was the only one in Hogwarts who got a present. He unwrapped it, and James and Sirius saw a small green liquid squirt up and spray Severus. All of the Great Hall held their noses, and Severus ran from the Great Hall.

Severus didn't show up for afternoon classes. Rumor had it he had been in the shower for two hours, trying to rinse the smell out.

Flying passed. James impressed everyone by telling them he had a Cleansweep 5 at home. Severus, who had just come to flying, scowled at James' story, muttering "show-off!"

"Push off!" Madam Hooch said. Madam Hooch was a young lady, who was the Quidditch teacher. James went speeding upwards, high above any of the other students, although, since first years weren't allowed their own brooms, he was riding a Shooting Star, which went out of production in the 40's. Severus came climbing up next to James. They passed higher and higher, then they both jetted down in a fast dive. The wind whipped James' black hair. The rest of the class looked up from their own brooms and watched James and Severus dive. James pushed himself up against the broom, coaxing it faster and faster towards the ground. He quickly steered out of the way of a giant tree and landing on the ground softly. He looked for Severus. Severus was hanging from his robes by a branch on the tree. He was calling for help. Everyone in the class started laughing hysterically. Madam Hooch bit her lip, to refrain from laughing. "Now, that isn't funny!" Madam Hooch said between giggles. "Now, now! James, go up and free Severus!" James flew up towards the tree and sliced Severus' robes with his wand. He caught Severus, carrying him down like a baby. This only made the class laugh harder. Even Madam Hooch leaned on her broomstick to refrain from falling on the ground.

After the classes, Sirius and James walked around the Gryffindor common room, late at night.

"Where's Remus?" James asked. Sirius shrugged.

* * *"Yes, Professor Dumbledore?" Remus asked, when he was in Dumbledore's office.

"Tonight's the full moon. It's time!" Dumbledore said. Dumbledore gave Remus a cloak and they set out across the moonlit grounds. Coming to the Whomping Willow Dumbledore had warned everyone about, he took a long stick and poked a knot. The willow froze and Dumbledore and Remus crawled under it. Moving into a tunnel with a low ceiling, they came into a small house. It had a desk and chairs and a bed.

"Remus? I'll come and get you in the morning. You'll make it to your afternoon classes!" Dumbledore walked out the house and unfroze the Whomping Willow.

* * *James and Sirius finished their studies. As they walked out of the almost-empty common room, James saw Lily. He dropped a large book on his toe. He yelped with pain and limped up the stairs to the boys dorm. They soon changed into their pajamas and crawled underneath the covers. As James started to close his curtains, Sirius began to talk.

"You like her, don't you?" Sirius asked. James turned bright red.

"Who, Sirius?" James asked, as innocently as possible.

"You know you, James. LILY!" he said, chuckling.

"I do NOT!" James said, turning even redder.

"You do!" Sirius said. James didn't answer. He finished closing his curtains and fell asleep.

The next day, Remus was found. He came to afternoon classes. "I was sick!" Remus said, as James and Sirius questioned him. What had really happened to Remus was a complete secret. In fact, he had been sick. He's been sick since he was two, with an incurable disease. If the secret leaked out Remus shuddered at that thought. They went on to afternoon classes. Severus seemed madder at James than usual, probably because of the broomstick incident. Sure enough, when Severus got onto his broom, people yelled at him "Watch for the tree!" Severus framed another dungbomb incident on them in potions. Professor Snape was so mad, that before he took any points off and before he gave them a detention, he made them stay after class.

"WE'RE GOING TO THE HEADMASTER!" Professor Snape spat, his face red with hate. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter didn't think this was a proper time to argue, so they packed up their backpacks and left. They opened the door to Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was talking to McGonagall.

"Yes. Out of a hat, Mary!"

"It's Minerva!" McGonagall said, bitterly.

"Yes, yes! Now, Mary, please get the hat ready!" Dumbledore said, shoeing her away. McGonagall stomped away, grumbling. "Next?" Dumbledore asked. Professor Snape came in, holding James, Remus, Sirius and Peter by the collars of their robes. He dropped them on the floor.

"What is-" Dumbledore began.

"THEY THROUGH ANOTHER DUNGBOMB AT ME!" Professor Snape yelled.

"You may go, Salaminch!" Dumbledore said to Professor Snape. Professor Snape stomped out of the office. A bird flew around the room.

"Did you throw it at Professor Snape?" Dumbledore asked, softly.

"No!" They all said. "Severus Snape-" Dumbledore held up his hand.

"If you didn't do it, why does Professor Snape think you did?" Dumbledore asked. They all yelled out their stories at different times, so no one could distinguish what they were saying. Dumbledore silenced them again. "James, do you want a go?"

"Yes, sir. See Severus was mad at us for embarrassing him at flying, giving him burping toffee and squirting him with Skunk Essence-" James stopped

"I have lost my hearing in this ear, temporarily. Please speak into the other one!" Dumbledore said, smiling.

"Well, anyway, Severus threw a dungbomb at the corner of our desk, where it ricocheted off of our desk and hit Professor Snape, but it came from our table, so he thought we through it!" James said. Dumbledore believed them, to their relief, and they were let off of the hook.

The months passed. Halloween passed. Besides James and Sirius getting in trouble twice a week with Filch, everything was going fine. Studies were great, James and Sirius were at the top of their class. Then something happened.

James was walking up the stairs towards the astronomy tower. He opened the door a crack, to see if Dimente was in there. He was, but he was talking to his drawer. His desk drawer was open wide, and Dimente was having a full-fledged conversation with it. How strange. James looked through the crack in the door, and saw Dimente get an excited look on his face. Then Dimente jumped into the drawer and it shut behind him.

"Professor Dimente?" James asked. James looked around the room and tried to open the desk drawer. It was stuck. He knocked on the drawer. "Professor Dimente? Can I come in?" After a few minutes, James walked away. James ran down the stairs.

"What did Dimente say?" asked Sirius.

"Never mind that!" James said. Remus walked by. "Guys! Guess what I saw Professor Dimente doing?" James told them.

"He's just going crazy!" Sirius said.

"No. He's not! You didn't see it, but he disappeared into his drawer!"

The days passed by. Then, towards Christmas, on the first or second day in December, James, Sirius and Remus (with Peter at their heels) saw Dimente muttering to his coffee mug. With another look of excitement, he bolted from the hall. "He's gonna go into his mug!" James said, as they raced out to follow him.

"Hey!" James cried. Dimente's mug was stuffed behind a suit of armor. He picked it up. It certainly looked normal. James picked up the mug and ran up to Gryffindor tower. He stuffed the mug under his bed.

The afternoon classes came and gone, until Transfiguration. James, clutching his anamagi report on a piece of parchment, sat down at his desk.

"Today, we will pick your partners for the school-wide Yule Ball. Dumbledore informs me that this is the first year that 1st, 2nd and 3rd years will be allowed. Now, we hope that you will be on your best behavior, so 1st, 2nd and 3rd years can be admitted next year. Now, to make sure that no one is left out, each girl will pick a boy's name out of the hat. That's whom they must go with!" McGonagall said. Each girl took turns coming up to McGonagall's hat and picked up a scrap of parchment. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, and all of the other boys waited anxiously. James saw all of the girls, talking amongst themselves. They also traded slightly, when McGonagall wasn't looking, that is.

"Girls! Don't tell your partner! Just to make sure they can't play sick!" McGonagall said. Every boy's face dropped. The rest of Transfiguration wasn't as interesting. Although James got a 94% on his anamagi report, Severus kept flashing a box of dungbombs at them.

As James went walking down the hall to the bathroom, Lily came down the hall, with Maggie and Jill next to her. "I got you, Jill got Sirius and Maggie got Remus!" Lily whispered, walking by. James felt a little better, knowing that he didn't get stuck with Sarah Snoopson from Slytherin.

The weeks passed until Christmas Eve. James put on his forest green dress robes. He had told Sirius and Remus who their partners were.

"They're not that bad. At least I didn't get Sarah Snoopson" Sirius said.

At the ball, Peter found his partner. It was Sarah Snoopson, who was about three heads taller than Peter, for Peter was the smaller first year, and Sarah Snoopson was the biggest. "Eek!" Peter squeaked, as she carried him under her arm to the dance floor. Lily, Maggie and Jill were waiting for them. As Maggie, Jill, Sirius and Remus went away, Lily wiped her forehead.

"It's so hot in here!" she said, as a Japanese fan followed her around. "Mind if I go outside?" she asked, pulling on her cloak. James walked with her as they walked outside, into the snow. "Where do you live?" Lily asked, making conversation.

"Hogsmeade," James answered.

"I live in London. I've been sending owls to my sister, Petunia, but she hasn't written back yet. She's a Muggle. My whole family is. I'm the only witch." Lily said, fixing her hair, which was pilled up in an elegant bun. "I noticed Professor Dimente wasn't here!"

"I saw him talking to his coffee mug. And his drawer. He dived into both of them!" James said, without thinking.

"Really!" Lily said. "That's really weird. I wonder what he's up to!" Snow began to fall on them. As they both shuffled inside, they saw Sarah Snoopson chasing Peter around the Great Hall. Lily and James danced over to them.

"Where were you?" Sirius asked. "Wow! Cool!" He pointed to the fan that kept following Lily around.

"Attention!" she whispered. The fan stopped fanning and floated, folded. "Release!" The fan flew out of the hall. As Lily and James danced, Severus stood by them, with evil in his eyes. He took a running leap and dived on top of James. James fell to the floor and began wrestling Severus to the ground. "Watch out!" Lily cried. Lily ran over to them and tried to break it up. Too late. James and Severus hit a leg on the buffet table, causing the table to collapse on one side. All of the food and drinks slid down the table and landed on Severus, Lily and James. Now everyone was watching them fight. The DJ's record player was in the corner. Severus wrestled James, and they knocked it over, causing the records to break.

"STOP!" Dumbledore said. "Mary!"

"It's Minerva!" said McGonagall, bitterly, as she separated the two. She and Dumbledore walked out of the Great Hall, each holding one of the boys by the collar, just as Professor Snape had. They marched to Dumbledore's office.

"Mr. Potter!" said Dumbledore. "What ever possessed you to ruin the dance like this?"

"It wasn't me! I was dancing and Severus came pummeling at me! Ask Lily! We were dancing and then, he came!" James said.

"Mr. Snape?" Dumbledore said. "Tell us why the devil suddenly took over you?" Severus stood there, too lost for words. "I see," Dumbledore said. Lily and Professor Snape came busting in, both fighting to get inside the office first. They were stuck in the doorway.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Lily said at once. "It was Severus! It was his fault-"

"Albus! Don't listen to her! I saw it! Severus was attacked-" Professor Snape said.

"Salaminch! Miss Rolins! I believe you are both defending someone! Your stories don't match!" Dumbledore said. "One thing is for certain- they were both fighting. They ruined the food and the music!" James wiped some whipped cream off of his forehead. "I'll let you off easy, though," Dumbledore said. "You each get a detention and you will each lose 20 points for your house!"

"What did you DO?" James said to Severus, once they were out of earshot. Severus just smiled. "Fine," James said. He ran to catch up with Lily. "Sorry!" James said.

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault. I had fun tonight. Thanks James," Lily said. They walked her to Gryffindor Tower.

"Tropical Fish!" James said. They climbed through.

"HEY! WATCH IT WITH THAT PIE!" the Fat Lady yelled, wiping pie from her dress.

"Goodnight!" Lily said, walking up the girl's staircase.

Within an hour, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all back. Peter was red from running.

"What happened?" said Sirius, as he and Remus sat down on James' bed.

"I don't know. I was dancing and then-"

"We know that!" Sirius said. "I mean are you gonna have to pack your bags?"

"Oh no! I just got a detention and lost twenty points!"

"Man you're lucky!" Remus said, as he walked back to his bed.

"G'night!" James said, as he picked pie out from between his toes.

After Christmas, the studies became harder. Remus left for a few days during each month, because once his mother was sick, he was sick, he had his cousin's wedding, his grandmother was trampled by a Hippogriff and his dad was in a car crash.

"Boy, they're like the Kennedy's!" Sirius said, biting into a roll. "The Lupin's are jinxed!" He cleared his voice. "So to speak"

Professor Dimente was annoying them as usual by his perky attitude, but all in all, everyone liked him. That is, except James. He had been suspicious of Dimente since the drawer incident.

"Drop it, James! He probably just left his mug underneath the armor, while he went to inspect something!" Sirius said. "Shhh!" he said. Severus came walking by. James and Sirius ducked under James' invisibility cloak. They quickly threw a whole box (28) of Dungbombs on Severus. Argus Filch, the janitor came running down the hall and tripped over Sirius and James. Their cloak flew off. Filch led them to his office.

"Accio!" James whispered. His cloak came and tucked in his bag. Filch opened the drawer marked "Potter/Black." Sirius and James had a whole drawer to themselves of their troublemaking schemes that failed. As Filch started filling the detention slip, James and Sirius quickly dipped under the invisibility cloak.

"Ha Ha!" said James, in a squeaky voice. "You thought I was an ickle Firsty! Ha Ha!"

"PEEVES!" Filch called, angrily, as he ripped up the detention slip. He grabbed an old fishing net and ran out of the room. Sirius and James gave a high five and set out to Gryffindor tower.

As finals inched closer, one day in late May, James, Remus and Sirius came in James' invisibility cloak and sat down in the astronomy tower. Dimente came in, holding a leather briefcase. He opened it and began talking to it. Dimente gave another one of his excited looks and dived into his briefcase.

"GO!" James whispered. They all ran and grabbed the briefcase. Holding it open, they dived in, one by one.

Dimente was sitting in a room. He appeared to be doing paperwork. On his desk were his mug and this briefcase. All three of the things he talked to were here.

"I have finished, my lord!" Dimente called. A good-looking man came into the room.

"Good, Dimente. Send it with my owl. He'll know what to do!"

"Do you think you can get this transformation, my lord?" Dimente asked, stoking then fire. James couldn't help noticing this room looked nothing in what a briefcase is supposed to look like. There was no brown leather anywhere.

"Yes, Dimente. You have been faithful. In a few years, my plan will take action. Until then, you will stay with me, Dimente?" the handsome man asked.

"Yes, my lord!" Dimente said.

"All of this 'my lord' nonsense. Until I become Lord Voldemort with this transformation, I am still Tom Riddle. Now, there are three little boys underneath an invisibility cloak. Dimente turned and walked directly towards them. He could see through invisibility cloaks. James grabbed the cloak off of everyone, enabling them to run faster. James stuffed the cloak under his arm. They were in an elaborate palace. James would have loved to see it, if he wasn't being chased to death, that is. As they ran through, Dimente was on their tails. They had gone around in a big circle.

"Into the room we were in!" James yelled. "Quick!" They ran into the room, with Dimente's desk. Sirius dived into the coffee mug and Remus dived into the briefcase. James opened the desk drawer.

"We'll bide your time!" Dimente yelled. "Lord Voldemort will rise soon!"

"James! Wake up!" Dumbledore said.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes. Oh good, you are all up!"

"What happened?" asked Sirius and Remus.

"Dimente was a dark lord! He was with this guy named Voldemort or Tom Riddle or something! Dimente said Voldemort would rise soon!"

"How peculiar!" Dumbledore said. "Well, now that you're up, I'll send in your visitors. Peter Pettigrew and Lily Rolins came in.

"We were worried!" Lily said. She walked up to James and kissed him on the cheek. After Madam Pomfrey booted Lily and Peter out, James, Remus and Sirius began talking.

"See! She does like you!" Sirius said. James turned red.

After James, Remus and Sirius were freed from the Hospital Prison, er- we mean Hospital Wing, it was the end of the year.

"Now, the house cup!" Dumbledore cheered. "Minerva?"

McGonagall looked relieved, as she read off of a list. "In 4th, Hufflepuff with 289 points! In 3rd, with 312 is Slytherin. In 2nd is Gryffindor with 367 and the winner of the house cup is Ravenclaw with 407!"

The Ravenclaw table cheered obnoxiously loud.

"Another year at the end!" Dumbledore said. "Now, the coaches to the station to get on the Hogwarts Express is leaving in twenty minutes, so go and get your luggage and be down by the platform!"

Everyone left the Great Hall. They all boarded the Hogwarts Express, bound for King's Cross. They all chattered, until they got to Platform 9 and ¾."Goodbye, James!" said Lily. She grabbed her suitcase and wheeled it away, towards the gateway to the Muggle world. Remus saw his parents and walked over to them, waving goodbye.

At King's Cross between platforms 9 and 10, he Blacks and the Potters were waiting. "How was your year? Want to tell us about it?" Mr. Potter said.

"Oh, yes" James began.


	2. James Potter, the Werewolf and the Tree:...

****

JAMES POTTER, THE WILLOW AND THE WEREWOLF: YEAR 2

By Professor Odysseus

-----

James moved his books around to try to clear a spot for his Cleansweep 5. He tried again and again to shove it in. At last, he succeeded.

"James!" Mrs. Potter cried. "We're leaving for Hogwarts!" James had gotten permission from Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, not to ride the Hogwarts Express, since the Potters lived in Hogsmeade, a town, which was right against Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He and his best friend Sirius Black, who lived next door, also had permission. It was past 11:00, the time the Hogwarts Express left from London. It was actually 4:00. The Hogwarts Express usually came in to Hogsmeade station at about 4:15. Then they would take a carriage up to Hogwarts Castle. "Goodbye!" Mrs. Potter called, as she and Mrs. Black walked out of the station. Remus Lupin, one of James and Sirius' friends, walked off the train, dragging a suitcase. The three of them jumped on a carriage, ferrying students from the station to Hogwarts.

"It was raining in London. Really hard. I got soaked!" Remus said. Remus didn't look very wet, but he must have been five hours ago, when the Hogwarts Express left. Soon, at the Sorting, all of the older students sat at their house tables, while the first years sat in a line, waiting to be sorted.

"And now-" Professor McGonagall said. "The Sorting Hat!" She put a ratty old hat on a stool. A mouth near the brim of the hat opened. The hat burst into song.

"Oh, once when I was a young little hat,

I wasn't really phat,

The founders then put brains in me,

So inside students brains I could see

I can sort you into a house, when you put me on.

Right after I sing this song!

Where will you go? Let me see

You might go to Gryffindor,

They're brave there.

Or maybe to Ravenclaw,

Where they are the smartest of the bunch.

Or Hufflepuff,

The loyalist friends you'd ever have.

And maybe in Slytherin,

Where they go to drastic lengths to achieve their ends!

So wherever you go, whichever house,

I've never been wrong yet,

You'll do very well there!

Now try me on,

Hurry Up!"

The school burst into applause. After the first years were sorted into different, the food automatically appeared on their plates. As James stuffed his mouth full of food, he saw Severus Snape, his archenemy, waving at him that from the Slytherin table.

"I'd like to introduce our new astronomy professor. Professor Sinistra!" Dumbledore said happily. "As you know, do to er- unfortunate circumstances, Professor Dimente could not come back this year."

Only Sirius, James, Remus and Lily Rolins, a second year girl in Gryffindor, knew what had happened to Professor Dimente. He had gone to the dark side, following some dark lord named Voldesnort or something like that.

After the banquet, in which Severus and James tried to stare down each other, Sirius, James and Remus all went upstairs to their dormitory to unpack.

As James awoke the next morning, rain was pouring down. It looked as if someone was shooting at them from the machine gun in the sky. They were about the size of bullets and were coming rapidly down at their window. As James pulled off his covers, he felt a sudden chill. Reluctantly climbing out of his four-poster, he changed in his robes and put on his green cloak and his woolen cloak. Still cold, he decided to creep into the common room. He still didn't know what time it was, but he assumed it must have been early, for there were only three people in the common room. He sat down in one of the fluffy armchairs near the fire. Lily Rolins sat down next to him.

"Hello!" she said briskly. James yawned. "Well good morning to you too!"

"Sorry," he said, pulling out his History of Magic assignment. As he read it, he heard breathing on his shoulder. Lily was reading his essay over his shoulder. James cleared his throat. "Oh! Sorry!" she said, still cheerfully. James' eyes began to droop and he almost fell asleep. "At least your essay is interesting!" she said, sarcastically. James looked at his schedule. He scowled, as he saw that his first class was potions with Professor Salaminch Snape, who was Severus Snape's father. This explained part of why Professor Snape hated James. Also, Severus had framed James, Remus and Sirius for throwing a dungbomb at him last year.

James fell asleep until Sirius began waking him up. "Wassamatter?" James said groggily.

"Potions!" Sirius said. "We need to get down to the dungeon!" As they stepped away from the fire, it became immediately cold. To keep warm, Sirius, James and Remus ran to the potions room. Professor Snape began to ramble on and on. Professor Snape was constantly looking at James, Sirius, Remus and Peter Pettigrew, just in cast they pulled anything sneaky. At the end of the class, James, Sirius and Remus walked away to their dorm.

At flying, which was their next class, Madam Hooch, the flying teacher, showed some more basic broom techniques, like she did last year. People admired James' Cleansweep 5, which was, without a doubt, the best broom on the market. Anyway Madam Hooch had picked James and Severus to demonstrate the moves, since they had both played keeper on Rec-Quidditch teams. As James and Severus stood on both different sides, each guarding three goals. Madam Hooch split the remainder of the class into two groups. Suddenly, quaffles were flying in all directions. James quickly dived around. He missed only two out of the forty quaffles that were thrown. As Madam Hooch blew her whistle, he checked to see how Severus was doing. Severus' broom was sprawled out on the ground. Yes, sprawled. It's handle was lying on the ground, and the bristles were blowing in the wind, all separated. Severus was all in one piece. That was the good news. The bad news was that he was hanging from one of the poles.

"Potter! Go get Snape!" Hooch said. Kids were still throwing quaffles, trying to peg Severus.

"ACCIO!" James bellowed. Severus erupted from the goal post and flew through the air, right over the stands, and smack into the lake. As the class ran and flew out, they saw Severus soaking wet, swimming out of the lake. He had a very not-nice look on his face. The entire class started laughing. Severus turned purple, because he was blue from the cold and red from embarrassment.

"Potter?" Madam Hooch asked. "Can you stay after class?"

"Busted!" whispered Sirius. As James walked over to Madam Hooch, she smiled at him. McGonagall was next to Madam Hooch.

"You are a very good keeper!" Madam Hooch said.

"Uh, thanks!" James said.

"Anyway!" said McGonagall. "How would you like to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a keeper? Ours left last year!"

"Er, sure, I guess!" James said.

"Good. Now we have all of the players!" McGonagall said, happily. "Oh and remember, you're the keeper. Okay?" James almost fainted on the floor.

"Er- okay!" James said, regaining his voice and his nerves and his balance. He wobbled out of the field and moved automatically to his next class.

"YOU'RE ON THE TEAM?" asked Sirius, jumping around the dorm that night. "I can't believe it! And with that Cleansweep 5! Boy, you'll knock 'em dead!" Sirius and Remus were both pleased.

Soon, in November, Quidditch practices began. The captain of the team had sent owls to each of the other players, telling them to meet on Saturday right after lunch. As James walked into the Gryffindor locker rooms, he changed into his scarlet Gryffindor Quidditch robes. Then, the team started funneling in. There was the seeker, Rob Tanner, the chasers Stephanie Johansen, Brian Timothy and Jonathan Miller, the two beaters, Sue Gregory and Bill Lawrence. Then, of course, was the keeper, James Potter. As James sat down with the rest of the players, Rob Tanner, who was the captain, stood up and began talking about new moves with the help of moving people on his posters.

"And, I'd like to introduce our new keeper, James Potter!" Rob said. The team began to cheer. Then Rob went back into his talk. Once Rob was done talking, they all practiced their new moves. Once the practice was over, at about three, Rob stood behind with James. "Glad you know how to play Quidditch already!" Rob said. "Show me what you can do!" Like a bullet, James shot up to the goal. Rob began throwing Quaffles at him. James blocked every one. "GOOD!" Rob said, gleefully. They walked out off the field.

"I am SO happy!" James said, as he started his homework.

"Good!" Sirius said, without looking up from his cauldron. He walked upstairs to get some more dragon blood for his potion's homework. As Sirius left, Lily Rolins came walking into the common room.

"Hi James!" she said. "Congratulations on making the Quidditch team!" James thanked her and went back to his essay.

The months passed until December 3rd, when it was the first Quidditch game.

"Ready?" Rob asked the team. Everyone nodded. "Don't forget! Ravenclaw is really good! Just try your best, everyone!"

"MOUNT YOUR BROOMS!" Madam Hooch yelled. "GO!" The Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw teams burst up into the air. James leaped up to the goal posts.

"And Potter is at the goal!" said Sam Jordan, a Hufflepuff boy, who was doing the commentary. "Wait! Here we go! And Johansen sends the Quaffle to Timothy, oh but he is hard by a bludger! The Slytherin chaser, John Larinos, takes the Quaffle. He shoots, but Potter is just too strong! With a sweep with his Cleansweep 5, which is obviously the best broom-"

"JORDAN!" yelled Professor McGonagall.

"Sorry!" Jordan said. "And James Potter blocks the Quaffle again. Oh, but Rob Tanner sees the snitch. He dives Nope. Fouled by Larinos. But Jonathan Miller gets a foul shot He makes it! Gryffindor leads 10 to 0! Tanner sees the snitch again! He dives And then-wait! Timothy knocks the Quaffle into the goal!"

James quickly dove down to block Quaffle that one of the Slytherin chasers threw towards him. He could here Sam Jordan's words ring in his ears. As he hovered, he suddenly heard cheering. He saw Rob dive down, clutching the golden snitch. As James descended, the crowds were still cheering. The crowd was still cheering as the team went into the locker rooms marked "Gryffindor."

"Good job!" Rob said, as the team jumped up and down. After Rob talked to them, they all walked out. The once cheering, fan-filled stadium was now deserted. It was dark when James walked up to the castle. He collapsed onto his bed fell asleep.

The next morning was a Saturday, so James headed out to Quidditch field. The rest of the team was already there. They began flying and working on new techniques.

"Everyone listen up!" Rob yelled as everyone began drinking their water. "As you know, the Yule Ball is coming up. It is customary to have Quidditch team pictures taken during the ball. James; I need to talk to you after practice!" Their practice ended after Rob gave another talk about their match against Hufflepuff.

"What, Rob?" James said, when he came up to Rob after practice.

"Okay. Anyway, the Yule Ball is for 4th year and up."

"But last year, a couple of first years were caught fighting. So now the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years have their own dance on Christmas Day," Rob said. James had a knot in his throat. Last year at the Yule Ball, Severus had pounced on James and they wrestled into the buffet table and It was a mess. Obviously, the professors had cut down the size of the dances, so they could keep a better watch.

"So?" James said.

"Well, 2nd years aren't allowed at the Yule Ball. No exceptions. I already asked Professor McGonagall. Anyway, there is a way around that. You need a date that is in their fourth year or older. Then you can get in." Rob left the field, clutching his broomstick. As he walked towards the exit, Sue Gregory, the chaser, stopped him.

"I heard what Rob said" she said. "You can go with me, if you want to!"

"Sure," said James, as he exited the field. He walked up to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Hey!" Sirius said, stuffing a potato in his mouth.

"Where's Remus?" James asked, helping himself to a plate of food.

"Don't know. He disappeared again. Did you notice he does this almost every month?"

"Yeah!" James said, finishing his plate. "We'd better get to our homework. We have tons!"

They had just finished well past nightfall when they decided to get some fresh air and take a spin on their broomsticks. Taking James' invisibility cloak, they walked down to the Quidditch field. Before they could take their cloak off, they saw two silhouettes, walking across the grounds. James and Sirius both nodded at each other and ran underneath the cloak. They saw Dumbledore and Remus. Dumbledore poked at a knot with a long stick. The knot froze the Whomping Willow, so they could walk in, Sirius and Remus at their heels. "Let me know when your transformation is complete!" Dumbledore said. He walked out. James and Sirius sat in the corner, watching Remus. It was a strange building, with a comfy chair, a desk, a bed, a table with chairs and dresser. They sat next to the dresser and the trapdoor to the passage by the Whomping Willow.

Suddenly, Remus let out a scream. He fell to his knees and collapsed on the floor. James and Sirius watched in horror, as Remus lifted himself up. Or was it Remus? Remus was standing now, with lots of fur covering him. His robes were torn and bits of fur were sticking out. He growled and grabbed the desk and threw it down onto the ground. With his claws, he slashed the comfy chair, causing the stuffing to be exposed. He grabbed the table and threw it at the dresser. The dresser collapsed and James quickly dove out of the way.

"RUN!" Sirius whispered to James. They grabbed the trapdoor and thrust it open. Quickly closing the trapdoor after them, they pressed the knot, which froze the Whomping Willow. They bolted forward and ran all the way to Gryffindor tower.

"NARSISCA ROLE!" James yelled.

"Who's there?" asked the Fat Lady. Last year, she was skinny, but she was starting to gain weight. James and Sirius said nothing and climbed through the portrait hole. Without a word, they climbed into bed. It dawned on both of them that what they saw concluded one thing. Remus was a werewolf.

As they awoke, Remus still wasn't back. "What should we do?" Sirius asked. James opened his book.

"THERE!" he cried. "Here. A werewolf is only harmful to people, but to animals, they are in no danger of becoming a werewolf."

"So?" Sirius said. James grabbed another book and ripped it open.

"THERE!" he cried, again. "Right here! An animagus is a wizard or a witch who can turn into an animal!"

"Wait. You are NOT-" Sirius began. James began nodding.

"Yes, I do! See we turn into animals, large enough- "James began

"Can I be an animagus too?" asked a squeaky voice. It was Peter Pettigrew, who was waking up. James and Sirius huddled up.

"Well," James whispered to Sirius. "If we can turn into animals, large enough to keep a werewolf in check, then Peter can be a small animal, so he can creep into the tunnel and push the knot-" Sirius nodded.

"Okay!" he said to Peter. "But you can't be clumsy!" Peter nodded.

"Why are we doing this?" Sirius asked James.

"Because Remus is our friend! I know that werewolf transformations are torture! If we can become animals, we can keep him company!"

Sirius and Peter nodded. As they left for their morning classes, James bumped into Lily.

"Hi, Lily," he said. "The Christmas Ball is coming up. Want to go with me?" Lily scowled and stomped off. James caught up with her. "Lily?" he asked. She gave him a mean look and stomped off again. As James rounded into potions, he saw Lily talking to Severus. She was smiling and James saw her looking at him through the corner of her eye. Next to Lily was a white glove. It hovered next to her and curled up as she petted it. It waved to James as they walked by. Lily scowled. Potions came around very slowly. As did the rest of the classes that day. Soon, Remus came back.

"You tell him!" rasped James.

"No you!" Sirius whispered back. They agreed to flip a coin. James lost.

"So, Remus" James said, as he looked at the ground.

"Yes?" Remus said cheerfully.

"Remus? We know you're a, a" James said. The color in Remus' face was gone and tears filled Remus' eyes.

"Remus! We're going to help you!" James said as Remus turned his head away. "We're going to be animagi, Remus!" Remus looked back at James in disbelief.

"We can manage it!" Sirius said. "Then, during your transformations, we can keep you company!" The color came back to Remus' face. A big smile erupted.

"R-Really?" he said, his lip quivering. He ran, smiling into their dorm.

"That made him happy!" said Peter. Sirius and James both nodded.

Soon, it was time for the Christmas Eve Yule Ball. James met Sue in the common room. He saw Lily, eyeing him over her book. James was in his blue satin dress robes, as he walked with Sue, in her white velvet robes. He blonde hair was brushed down to the middle of her back. They got to the beautiful Yule Ball. Sue was about the same size as James. They walked to the dance floor. After a half-hour, Rob came running up to Sue and James. "PICTURES!" he called. "Over there!"

They all walked over to a background. It was red, for Gryffindor house. They all smiled and posed for the picture. The rest of the night passed uneventfully.

It was midnight when the party ended. They climbed back up to Gryffindor tower, said goodnight and went to bed. It was 10:00 when James awoke. There was no tea this morning, for the Christmas Day Ball started at 5:00. At 3:45, everyone walked upstairs to their dorm, so they could change. James was going with a girl from Gryffindor named Olivia Spelling. She soon left, storming away from James, back to Gryffindor tower. She did this because James wouldn't dance with her and her kept watching Lily. James bumped up to Sirius. "Everyone's here! Even Professor Snape! Now's the time!" James said. He, of course was talking about the time to steal some things for their potion. James gave Sirius and Peter a list, and they tiptoed away.

"Want to dance?" James asked Lily. Lily scowled but went out to the dance floor. Severus turned around to see James and Lily dancing. He grabbed his wand and whispered a curse.

"Watch out!" Lily cried. James was suddenly banged against the wall and collapsed. Lily had seen Severus, who was now innocently at the punch bowl, his wand put away. Lily grabbed her wand. The white glove she had been petting in potions came up to her, saluting. She talked to it for a second and it chuckled. It then slapped Severus across the face over and over. It curled itself into a fist and bopped itself on Severus' head. Lily ran over to James, Remus at her heels. James was knocked unconscious and sprawled out on the floor. Sirius and Peter came walking back into the Great Hall. Seeing James, they ran over to him. Dumbledore came plowing through the dance floor. All of the dancing and merry-making had stopped. Everyone was now watching James. The little white gloved stopped hitting Severus and fit itself around Severus' hand. It grabbed a handful of pudding and threw it at the dance floor. Part of it hit Sarah Snoopson, a six-foot tall second year. She saw Severus by the food table. She grabbed a cake and threw it. However, it was pre-cut. The slices flew everywhere. Within minutes, the entire dance was in a foot fight.

"STOP!" Dumbledore bellowed. The dance stopped. Everyone was covered in food. Madam Pomfrey came running into the Great Hall. She conjured up stretchers and it carried James up to the hospital wing. Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily all followed Madam Pomfrey up to the Hospital Wing. James was still unconscious ten days later. Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily came to visit him every day. Then, one day in the end of January, James had been unconscious for over a month, he awoke. He was still in his dress robes. Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all sitting on a couch that Lily had popped up from her wand, doing their homework.

"JAMES!" they all said at once. They were at the side of his bed.

"Hi!" James said in barely a whisper. "How long have I been here?"

"About a month!" Sirius said. "You had a curse put on you at the Christmas Day Ball!"

"A curse?" James whispered in disbelief.

"It was Severus, but no one else saw him! He didn't even get so much as a detention!" Lily said.

About a week and a half later, James was allowed out of the hospital wing. James, Remus, Sirius and Peter were all in their dorm. "We got most of the ingredients!" Sirius said, taking a large stack out from under his bed. "Well, for the first step anyway! Now, what we need is cauldron. Self-stirring! That way we can leave it over the summer." Sirius smiled. "I know you're just getting over being sick and all, but it's your turn to get something for the Operation: Animagi!" James agreed, and took his invisibility cloak and went off through the castle. He bumped up onto a statue of the one-eyed witch. Let's see James thought. Maybe it's a secret passage!

"Open!" James whispered. He zapped his wand. In his hand was a magical translator, which translated English into Mermish, Troll, Gobbledegook, Giant and Hag. He whispered open and it gave him all of the translations.

"Laroo!" he whispered in Mermish. Nothing happened.

"Urgha!" he whispered in Troll. Nothing happened.

"Bladhook!" he whispered in Gobbledegook. Nothing happened.

"Rahara!" he whispered in Giant. Nothing happened. Disappointed, he looked at the last word. It was in Hag.

"Dissendium!" he whispered in Hag. The witch's hump opened and James climbed through. He slid down a slide and opened a trapdoor. Inside, were many crates marked "Honeydukes Sweet Shop: Hogsmeade." He was in the Honeydukes cellar. He climbed up the stairs. With his invisibility cloak, he walked into the Cauldron Store. He bought the largest, self-stirring cauldron he could find. He paid for it and bewitched it to make it feather-light and tied it to his broomstick. He flew back to Hogwarts and flew up to his window. Sirius and Remus pulled him into the dorm and set up the cauldron.

"What do we do?" Peter squeaked. James took an ounce of dragon blood and a pinch of Blodgarghag powder into the cauldron of bubbling, boiling water. The cauldron fizzed and turned green. James pressed the self-stirring button. A suction in the cauldron began stirring. James adjusted the speed.

That night was the full moon. Remus left to go and meet Dumbledore. James, Peter and Sirius took the invisibility cloak and walked into the house. Crouching in the corner, they saw Remus, who had transformed. He ran over to the corner, but he couldn't see James, Sirius and Peter. "This was a bad idea!" Sirius said. James agreed. They got up and decided to run. They picked themselves up and crashed into Remus. James, Sirius and Peter screamed, as the cloak slid off. Remus growled as James picked up the invisibility cloak. Remus began to chase after them. James took off his regular cloak and threw it over Remus' face. They ran over to the trapdoor, Remus still struggling with the cloak. The trapdoor was stuck.

"HURRY!" James cried, as they wretched open the trapdoor. They bolted through the passage and poked at the knot. The Whomping Willow froze. They sprinted through the grounds and didn't stop until they were in their dorm. "We'd better finish this potion soon!" James said.

The potion went by very well for the rest of the year.

As James and Sirius waved goodbye to Remus and Peter, they walked back to their houses, the end of a year.


	3. James Potter and the Dark Lord: Year 3

**JAMES POTTER AND THE DARK LORD: YEAR 3**

by Professor Odysseus

-----

James Potter and his friend Sirius Black were sitting on James' bed, reading an issue of "Which Broomstick?"

"Hey look!" Sirius said, pointing to a picture of a man riding a golden broomstick. It read in small letters "Nimbus 1000."

"Wow!" James said. "A new Nimbus!" James looked at his Cleansweep 5, which is, or WAS the best broom. Apparently the Nimbus 1000 was better. James looked at the man, who was flying around. As the caption said "Auto-Brake" the man stopped short. He had a large smile and was showing a look that basically said "I'm Cool!"

An hour later, they were in Diagon Alley. Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Black were having drinks at the Leaky Cauldron, while James and Sirius did their shopping. As they bought their books, they saw the Apothecary. "We'd better go and get stuff for- well, you know!" James nodded. Their friend Remus Lupin, they had found out last December, that he was a werewolf. Instead of ignoring him, they were making an animagi potion to turn into animals, since werewolves can not give animals the disease. After buying their school stuff, they walked to Quality Quidditch Supplies. The Nimbus 1000 was in the window. James emptied his money pouch. "Not enough!" he groaned. He counted his remaining galleons, sickles and knuts. Nope. Not enough. "But maybe" he said, slyly. He grabbed Sirius and they ran to Gringotts. He gave the goblin the key. They took the Gringotts car, which was like a golf cart that ran on a mine car track. Zipping through the underground vaults, the lights suddenly flickered and went out.

"Mr. Goblin, sir?" asked James in a weak voice. He pulled out his wand. "Lumos," he said. A small light was coming the end of his wand. He shined it on the goblin. The goblin was lying in the tunnel, dead. James and Sirius screamed and bolted down the passage. Why they did that, is an unknown fact. Soon, the tunnel was deserted.

"S-Sirius?" James said. "Where are we?" Sirius said nothing.

"HELP!" cried a familiar voice. It was Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

"Something happened!" Peter squeaked. "Our goblins suddenly dropped dead! I met Remus on my way here!" All of their wands were lit.

"Hey!" James said. "Look!" They walked through a vault, that the door was ajar. They hid behind a pile of gold. In the middle of the room was a cauldron, about 10 feet in diameter. Their old Astronomy Professor, Professor Dimente, was stirring the cauldron. He had quit his job after their first year to join a Dark Lord. This gave James, Sirius, Peter and Remus a scare. He continued stirring the cauldron. A snake was slithering around the vault. A face. A face came out of the cauldron. Was it a human face? No. Quite the contrary. It was a disgusting face, all white, with yellow eyes and two slits for its nose. He rose out of the cauldron and sat down on a pile of gold, which automatically turned into a golden chair. Dimente fell to his knees and bowed, lying down on the ground.

"Anything I can do, My Lord!" Dimente said.

"Glad that you remembered that I am no longer Tom Riddle, but Lord VOLDEMORT!" the thing bellowed.

"Yes, My Lord!" Dimente answered.

"Good!" Voldemort answered. "Now, there are some of your former students! Why don't you say hello?"

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all jumped and sprinted as fast as they could towards the tunnel that led upwards. Peter tripped over something. He screamed as he saw it was a dead goblin, the one that had driven James. They continued to run, each tripping over at least three goblins. It seemed all was lost, when they got to the mouth of the tunnel. Expecting to see the white marble lobby of Gringotts, all there was, was a bunch of dirt. They couldn't even see over the top. They all tried at the same time, but their magic was just too weak to move a grain of dirt. It must have been highly magic-proof.

"HELP!" they all cried. Nothing happened. They screamed until they were hoarse. It was getting quite cold in the tunnel now; it was getting late. They tried to stay awake, but it got too late. They all fell asleep on the cold, dirt floor. James awoke. The tunnel was still pitch-black. He assumed it was morning. His robes were covered with the fine brown dirt. So were Sirius, Remus and Peter's. They were starving, since they hadn't eaten anything for 24 hours. Suddenly, there was a loud bang. The dirt pile suddenly collapsed. A bunch of wizards, wearing yellow robes and pointed yellow hats marked in red writing that said "FIRE." They pulled Remus, Sirius, James and Peter out of the hole. They walked into the marble lobby of Gringotts, which was covered in dirt and people. Reporters came in from every angle.

"Hello, I'm from Wizard Network News-"

"I'm from Witch Weekly, could you-"

"From the Daily Prophet. Could you tell me-"

"HI! This is The Bewitching Hour! You're on Live at 5-" Finally, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter made it through the crowd, back to their parents. Once they were outside, a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth hovered about Gringotts. They talked all the way back to Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley shopping bags in hand. Their entire story was in the Daily Prophet, the following morning.

Cave in at the Gringotts

Diagon Alley- Two days ago, Hogwarts third years, Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew all went inside Gringotts. Then, the lights suddenly blacked out and their goblin dropped dead. The four boys claim to have seen a dark lord, being born in one of the vaults. Once they got to the tunnel entrance, it had caved in. The boys stayed there for almost 24 hours, before being rescued by the Diagon Alley Magical Fire Department. All four boys declined interviews.

After getting over that entire thing, which took a while, James and Sirius waited by the train depot in Hogsmeade, waiting for the Hogwarts Express to arrive. The Hogwarts Chariots arrived to drive the students up to the castle on the hill. Remus and Peter both were among the first to get off the train. As they loaded their trunks into a chariot, Lily Rolins came running up to James.

"James!" she cried. "I just heard! Did you really get trapped in Gringotts?" James nodded.

"We were stuck there for almost a day!" James said, shivering at the thought.

"He's lying, of course!" said a voice. It was Severus Snape, James' archenemy.

"I am not!" James said. Severus put his face right in front of James. Turning away, he mumbled "Liar!" underneath his breath.

James picked himself up into the chariot and they drove to Hogwarts castle. They walked up into the Great Hall, where the Sorting was about to begin. All of the first year students got sorted into one of the four houses; Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin. James, Remus, Sirius, Peter and Lily all were in Gryffindor. Severus was in Slytherin.

"Hello!" Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, said. "Welcome to the Sorting Ceremony!" He explained about the separate houses. He waited until McGonagall put the Sorting Hat on a stool. The Sorting Hat was a really frayed hat. A rip near its brim opened up as a mouth. It burst into song.

"Oh, I once was a brand new hat,

I didn't have a care,

Another hat found me,

And put me on a dare!

Then Gryffindor found me,

And put me on his hair.

Then, the founders of this really great school,

Needed one to sort their young wizards,

They put some brains in me, then I could sort!

I watched the first years, come up from the port!

Perhaps Gryffindor,

They're so brave there,

Or Hufflepuff,

Where they really, truly care,

Or Ravenclaw,

Where they are really brainy,

Maybe Slytherin,

Where they aren't dainty!

I've done this for a while, I am a real pro,

I'm the Sorting Hat,

To tell you where to go!"

The school burst into applause. As the students walked up, one by one, as Professor McGonagall called their names, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter helped themselves to food. At last the Sorting was done. Once everyone was stuffed with the delicious Hogwarts food, Dumbledore began making announcements.

"I want everyone to remember that the forest is forbidden to all students and the village of Hogsmeade is to students under their third year. Also, I would like to introduce our brand-new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher! Professor Banks!" Dumbledore motioned to a blonde haired man with bright blue eyes. He smiled and sat down. Dumbledore continued with the announcements, until he dismissed them. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all carried their trunks up. On their way up, James saw Severus, surrounding by his friends, Bill Rosier and Greg Wilkes and Nick Lestrange. They were also carrying their trunks up to their dorms. As James opened the door, now marked "3rd Years" he saw the gigantic, 6 foot diameter, self-stirring cauldron, which was stirring through the summer. It was an animagi potion. James added a dragon's horn, a drop of bat blood and a pinch of oregano (for flavor.) Since it was late when they finished unpacking, they went straight to bed.

The next morning, James gathered up his books went off to his first class; potions. With Professor Salaminch Snape. Professor Snape was Severus' dad, who hated James about as much as Severus did. Sirius, Remus and Peter were still pilling their books into their backpacks when James left.

"Hi Lily!" James said, catching up with her.

"Hi James!" she cried, running up to him. She hugged him.

"You're stuck with potions?" James said. "Yeah, I know. We have to take it! What are your new classes this year?"

"Arithmancy and Divination!" she said.

"I'm doing Arithmancy and Muggle Studies!" he said, happily. They walked into the potions dungeon. Professor Snape was looking as grouchy as ever and he acted it too. As James walked in with Lily, Severus' face slouched and gave James a dirty look. Potions was as bad as ever, Severus stuck a dungbomb in James' cauldron, causing it to explode, spilling the red hot potion all over. Everyone took refuge on their desks, as Professor Snape zapped the potion, causing it to retreat. As everyone lowered themselves. Professor Snape took 50 points from Gryffindor for stupidity. After the class, they headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Banks' class was very fun. They had a large maze, in which Professor Banks was above them on his broom. The maze all types of different dark creatures in it, just to see what they knew. He congratulated James, Sirius and Lily for being the only people to be able to complete the maze. Banks was by far everyone's favorite teacher, except for a group of the Slytherins, who always disagreed with everyone.

One day, James, Sirius and Peter were mixing their potion; they were about half done. The door suddenly opened. Professor Banks was standing there. James, Sirius and Peter suddenly had a look of horror on their face. Professor Banks walked into the room. He mumbled something as he circled around the cauldron. "Animagi?" he asked. "You know, I am a teacher, so I'm really supposed confiscate it" His eyes lit up. "But, I did the same thing when I was a kid. I know you wouldn't believe this, but-" He suddenly turned into a beautiful lion. As Banks threw his mane back, he quickly transformed back. James, Sirius and Peter looked at him in awe. "Good luck!" he said, brushing himself off. "And I won't tell anyone, don't worry." He walked out of the room.

"He is so cool!" Sirius said. Remus came walking into the room.

"So, what up?" Remus asked. They told him about Professor Banks. "COOL!" Remus said. They walked out to the common room.

Suddenly, Rob Tanner, the Quidditch captain came into the common room. "Hey, James!" he said. "I'm so glad I found you!"

"Hi Rob!" James said. Rob was the Quidditch captain and the seeker on the Gryffindor House Quidditch team. James played keeper.

"Practice!" Rob said. James quickly grabbed his Cleansweep 5 and ran down to the Quidditch field. Rob was in the center of the Gryffindor Locker Room.

"Hi! I'm Rob Tanner!" Rob said. James only a few people. There was him, Rob, the beater Sue Gregory and the chaser Jonathan Miller. "Now!" Rob said. "Here's our official player list for the school year of 1973-1974!" Rob cleared his throat. "Seeker: Rob Tanner. Beaters: Sue Gregory and Taylor Hitchcock!" A fourth year with dark hair and dark brown eyes stood up. "Chasers: Jonathan Miller, Dave Charleston and Liz Desson!" A boy with light brown hair stood up, followed by a girl with long black hair. They all grabbed their brooms and blasted off into the sky. Jonathan, Dave and Liz tried to get the Quaffle passed him, as Sue darted in front of James, hitting a bludger away from James. Her blonde hair, which was long last year, was now cut into a shoulder-length bob, was strewn upon her face. Dark soon fell. Rob called them back to the ground and dismissed them.

James walked up to his dorm. Once he was in there, he noticed his watch was missing. He began searching for it, but then there was a knock on the door. He opened it, just sticking his head out. Taylor Hitchcock stood there.

"You dropped your watch!" Taylor said, giving it to James. James grabbed it with the hand that was free, for he was holding three books. The stack started to wobble.

"Thanks!" he said. The books fell.

"Let me help-" Taylor said. His eyes fell on the cauldron. "What's that?" He walked in towards the cauldron. He looked at the list marked "Animagi Potion."

"WOW!" Taylor said in awe. "An animagi potion?" James nodded. "Oh, that is SO COOL!" Taylor said. Taylor's watch beeped. "Gotta run!" he said, darting out of the dorm.

The weeks passed until December 2nd, when it was time for the first Quidditch game. The days got colder, homework loads got heavier and Quidditch practices got tougher. Rob kept working them harder, harder, harder James was also working on the animagi potion with Remus and Sirius.

"Okay!" Rob said. "Today is our first game! Now" Rob lectured on and on until Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, blew her whistle. They mounted their brooms and flew off. It began getting windy, James was glad he only had a little area to cover and that was the goals. The wind was pounding so hard, James couldn't see anything. He could barely hear the voice of Sam Jordan, a kid in Hufflepuff, who always did the commentary. The wind whistled in his ears. Sue quickly came flying over to him, knocking a bludger out of the way. Her hair was sticking straight back. The snow was pounding on James, along with hail the size of bludgers, plus, in the blinding weather, Sue and Taylor kept hitting the hail by accident.

Soon, it became dark. "Lumos" James said. His illuminated wand showed him no fans were in the stands. Due to the weather and the night, James supposed. They played on through the night. James was frozen and he just sat at the goal on his broom; no chasers had come near him. The next thing he saw was the sun rising. The weather was worse, now the hail that was coming down in stones about eight inches in diameter. Suddenly, he faintly heard a whistle. Rob had caught the snitch. As James flew down, he realized he was numb with cold. No one said anything as they walked back to the locker rooms. Everyone was tired and cold. Sue and Taylor and small icicles in their hair and Rob's fingers were sticking out, as if still wrapped around the snitch. No one talked, not a single word. Instead of leaving, they all just went to sleep on the floor. No one seemed to want to go out into the cold again, or maybe they were too tired. James awoke hours later. He was alone in the room, except Taylor was lifting himself off of the floor.

"Good-morning!" Taylor said.

"Good-morning," James said. They walked out into the storm. It was about the same as it was last night. They ran to keep the wind from pushing them backwards. They were once again cold when they made it to the castle. Happy to be in the warmth of the castle, James and Taylor both went up to James' dorm. James showed him the potion.

"Yeah. I already saw it. This is SO COOL!" Taylor said. "Can I be an animagi too?" he asked, excitedly. James, Sirius and Peter had a quick conference.

"Sure!" James said, as they broke up the huddle. He told him about Remus. Taylor nodded. He didn't seem to be scared of Remus in the least, which was a huge relief.

The animagi potion was about half done as the Christmas Holidays inched closer. James quickly added more newt eyes, as he ran off to potions.

"JAMES!" Lily said, running up to him. James turned around. "Would you like to go with me to the Christmas Dance?"

"Sure!" James said, as they both ran to potions.

"20 points from Gryffindor!" Professor Snape snarled. "For being late. Now get in your seats!" James and Lily quickly sat down at their seats. Potions was as bad as usual, Professor Snape looking to take points off Gryffindor at any little thing that happened. Everyone was happy to get out.

After their classes, James, Sirius, Peter and Taylor began mixing the potion. Professor Banks stopped in now and again to assist them and give them tips.

They worked at every spare moment, until it was Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve was the Yule Ball, which was for only fourth years and up. James had to go this year, like he did last year, because he was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Every year at the Yule Ball, the Quidditch pictures were taken. James was going with Sue Gregory, since he needed a date in fourth year or above to be admitted to the dance. The food was delicious, as it always was at Hogwarts.

"Hi!" Taylor said. He was with Liz Desson, the Gryffindor chaser.

"Potion well!" James muttered to Taylor, as James and Sue passed by.

After the Yule Ball, which lasted until midnight, James went to sleep. Waking up the next morning, James awoke and tended to the potion. Once everyone was awake, they opened their presents. James opened a long parcel. In his hand, he held the Nimbus 1000. Peter, Remus and Sirius screamed with delight.

"You got a NIMBUS 1000!" Sirius said. James flew laps around the room. This broom was in a completely different league than his Cleansweep 5. It was painted gold with silver lettering "NIMBUS 1000" Opening the window, James flew out and flew figure-eights in the air. They spent most of the day trying out James' new Nimbus 1000.

At 5:00, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all began getting dressed for the Christmas Day Dance. By 6:00, Sirius, Peter and Remus went to meet their dates in the Great Hall. James waited in the common room. Lily looked beautiful in sweeping white robes. James took her arm and they walked down to the Great Hall.

They saw Sirius, Peter and Remus as they began dancing on the dance floor. At 8:00, dinner was served. James and Lily began eating their steaks. They were deep in conversation. As Lily kissed James, the lights suddenly went out. A large screeching was heard. Someone screamed. Voices were heard, wondering why the lights went out. A spotlight shone on the staff table. It was a man. It was Professor Dimente. He kicked a dish onto the floor.

"GREETINGS, ALL!" he bellowed. "May I introduce, my master!" He dissapparated and apparated onto the floor. The thing, the thing James had seen at Gringotts. He had about 20 wizards behind him. More people screamed.

Voldemort began showing off his strength. The table James and Lily were sitting at suddenly exploded. "QUICK!" James whispered at Lily. With the lights pitch black, except for the spotlight on Voldemort, it wasn't hard. James was running clutching Lily's hand, with Lily running behind him. Suddenly he tripped. He heard Lily scream. He saw a shadow, which was her arm and he pulled. He fell backwards, Lily on top of him. They ran and darted at the open doors. James and Lily ran into the Entrance Hall, with Sirius, Remus and Peter at their heels. The puddle of Lily's elaborate robes were gone, he assumed she had gotten caught on something and it had torn when James pulled it. He didn't ask questions, though. They ran all the way to Gryffindor tower. James said the password and they bolted inside. The fourth years and older were finishing up their feast in the common room.

"Hi!" Taylor said, munching on food.

"Quick!" James yelled. "There's a- a dark lord or something in the Great Hall. We just came from there!" Within instants, the happy common room began shrieking with terror. They all ran out the portrait hole. "NO!" James called after them. "Don't go! Stay in here-" Too late. Everyone was gone.

They followed Sirius, Remus and Peter, as they ran to the Great Hall. The entire school was in there, the first, second and third year's robes were in rags and everyone had a look of despair on their face. The teachers were running around, trying to comfort the students, who were sitting on the floor. As they walked in, the tables were turned upside-down, the china broken. Food and sauce was splattered on the marble floor and the beautiful decorations were ripped and torn, the Christmas trees were on their sides, the beautiful ornaments that had been hanging on it, now were shattered on the floor. Dumbledore's long hair was sticking out and he had turned white. As did the other professors. The large picture window was shattered. The Great Hall was silent, as James stepped over the glass, which cracked under his feet. Everyone was white and just sat there, spellbound by Voldemort's intrusion. The cold winter wind was coming through the broken window, causing the Great Hall to become cold.

Through the entire night, everyone sat, not wanting to go asleep. They just sat, staring, not saying a word. They just sat in the freezing Great Hall, staring, staring

The next morning, mostly everyone in the school had left until the end of the Christmas holiday.

Mrs. Potter served a roast. "James! We're so glad that you decided to come home!" Mr. Potter began pilling corn onto his plate.

"Yeah! Why did you want to come home anyway?" he asked. James smile evaporated and the color dropped from his face. He tried to speak, but no words came out. He tried to change the subject.

"Thanks for that Nimbus 1000!" he said. Mr. & Mrs. Potter smiled.

"Glad you liked it!" Mr. Potter said. "Yeah, I saw the copy of "Which Broomstick" and I knew you'd like it!"

After the Christmas Holidays, James returned to school. Everyone still seemed to be in shock about what had happened a week and a half ago. And that was Voldemort. The night everyone came back, they all gathered at their tables in the Great Hall.

"Welcome back!" Dumbledore said. He told everyone what had happened the night Voldemort had arrived. It should have lifted up everyone's spirits, that no one had died and all, but no one knew the entire story, and it actually filled them with more fear.

James climbed into bed. He couldn't go to sleep for a few hours. When he finally did go to sleep he was awoken not long after. Sirius looked tired, he had obviously couldn't fall asleep either. Remus and Peter looked tired too.

As they slowly walked to potions, James saw Lily. She was walking even slower than they were, and was being half dragged by her sleepy friends.

As they finally made it to the dungeon, potions were about to begin. They sat down. James lay his head on his desk and almost fell asleep. Then Severus pegged him with something. He awoke and grabbed a piece of parchment. He began sketching out the school. As potions ended, he rejoiced and stuffed the parchment in his jacket.

As they settled in the dorm after classes, James pulled out the map. Sirius, Peter and Remus crowded around him.

"Guys, this is a map of the school! With every secret passage in the school!" James said. "Now, we need to pick a name. Just use the name that we call ourselves when we've transformed into animals. The all stated them and James wrote in sweeping letters:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers

Are proud to present

THE MAURAUDER'S MAP

James began to make a map of the whole school. It wasn't that hard, since James and Sirius knew the school so well from sneaking out. James began to make the part of the school everyone knows about and he also made the four passages that Filch knew about. He made the one to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade, which had the Whomping Willow planted over it. He also made the passage from the One Eyed Witch passage to the Honeydukes cellar.

"I know one!" Sirius said. "It's behind a mirror on the fourth floor!" James quickly sketched it in.

"Now!" James said, a sly smile coming to his face. "A dose of magic! Now, you need a sort of password to turn it on, and one to turn it off!" He waved his wand, clearing the map. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good!" he said. The ink spread and the map showed. "Mischief Managed!" he said. The ink disappeared. James turned the map on again.

"And!" Remus said. "Little dots saying where everyone is, so you can't get caught!" Remus waved his wand and little dots appeared, showing Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter and Sirius Black dots all crowded around in the dorm.

"And!" Peter said. "The passwords to get in to the passages!" He took out his wand and flicked it. Nothing happened. James tried, and "Dissendium" popped up near the one-eyed witch.

Soon, the map was done. James had it hidden under his bed. They continued brewing the potion.

James was walking down the hall one day. Professor Banks stopped him. "James!" he said. "I wanted to tell you; I found some stuff out for your animagi potion!" Professor Banks told him and gave him a small box.

"I tricked Salaminch into giving me this!" Professor Banks said, peevishly. James thanked him and ran to the dorm, showing everyone what Professor Banks had given him. Everyone applauded, as they all put the ingredients.

"What would we do without him?" Taylor asked. The cauldron began to stir.

Soon, it was April. They kept tending to the potion everyday. Since finals were coming up, they studied in shifts. James and Taylor were on the first shift, since they had Quidditch practices. They had the graveyard shift. It was strange; none of Taylor's fellow fourth years noticed he was never there at night.

"Rob said he wanted us to meet him tomorrow!" Taylor said, adding some giant's toenails to the potion. James had to help him lift the big toes' nails. James was constantly putting in bat's wings.

Soon, their shift was over. They went to sleep. Waking up, James saw Sirius and Peter, tending to the cauldron.

James opened his books and began memorizing the terms of ingredients for a sleeping potion.

Between studying, tending to the potion, homework and Quidditch, James and Taylor found absolutely no time to do anything else. Sirius and Peter had very little time, although they had no Quidditch practices.

Soon, it was the night before finals. James began pacing around, book in his hands. The common room was packed with students, all clutching gigantic stacks of books. The potion in their bedroom lay forgotten, still stirring. It was well past midnight before the common room started showing any sign of emptying. The wind whistled. James, Taylor, Sirius, Peter and Remus were in the common room, studying everything they would need to know for finals. Suddenly, Dumbledore's voice came over the PA system. It sounded slightly strangled. "ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS! QUICKLY COME TO THE GREAT HALL. DO NOT LEAVE UNTIL THE HEAD OF YOUR HOUSE TELLS YOU TO! DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING! HURRY!"

McGonagall came running in. "Okay! Gryffindors! Follow me!" All of the Gryffindors followed her down the corridors until they came to the Great Hall. Everyone sat down at their tables.

"Good!" Dumbledore said, his voice still strangled. "Glad you're here! If you remember Voldemort, from Christmas time. Rumors are that he has been spotted nearby-"

Suddenly, the ceiling shattered. Pieces of plaster littered the floor. Everyone started screaming, for what they saw A high-pitched, cold laugh suddenly was heard. Voldemort came down, with the twenty wizards and Dimente following him. Suddenly, a lot of people began to run. From the Gryffindor table, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Taylor and Lily bolted from the Great Hall. The rest of the students were rooted to the spot. They all ran to Gryffindor tower.

"Wait here!" James said. He raced up the boy's staircase. Coming to the top dorm, which was occupied by the seventh years, it had a wrap-around balcony.

"James!" Lily cried. She came up after him. It was silent. Then, something broke the silence. James heard the screaming from the Great Hall, as James and Lily walked around the balcony. He saw a flash of green light shine from the windows of the Great Hall, then more screaming.

Suddenly, there was a grotesque cracking sound and Gryffindor tower began to lean. It was over on its side. James could see Sirius and Remus and Peter looking up at them from the common room. Lily and James both screamed as they hung from the side of the balcony, the ground, floors below. There was a flash of light, as Voldemort came up, floating next to them. He laughed evilly.

"HELP!" Lily shrieked, as the wood railing began to crack. She moved her legs back and forth, as she saw the ground many feet below. James pulled himself onto the new top of the balcony (the side, actually, since everything was tilted 90 degrees) and reached through, and he grabbed Lily's hand. Voldemort's evil laughter stopped, as he waved his wand. The balcony began splintering more. James gave an almighty tug and he and Lily ran in the sideways door. How they managed to get down a staircase that was on its side, they shall never know, but soon, they were in the common room. They ran up to Sirius, Remus, Peter and Taylor.

"It's Voldemort!" James yelled. They all screamed as they heard more of that grotesque cracking sound. The lights in the common room began to flicker, then gone. The lights were out, except for the small fire that was still burning in the fireplace. There was a sound of wood skidding on wood. It was the legs of the handsome armchairs skidding across the hardwood floor. Then, the lights came back on. It wasn't the lamps, the fire had gotten bigger. They all screamed as they saw the horrifying truth. An armchair had caught on fire. It was rapidly spreading from chair to chair. Now onto the wood floor. Everyone ran to the other side of the common room. Before they could even think of putting it out, there was another cracking sound. The common room gave a jolt and turned upside down.

Squatting on the ceiling, they ran around, avoiding the burning armchairs that were crashing onto the ceiling. Another crack. The floor dropped out from under them. They were falling, falling

James saw the window for an instant. The starry sky was passing by them like they were in an airplane and zooming by it. Everyone screamed. No one present knew what was worse, the fire or the falling.

"We're not gonna make it!" Taylor screamed. The tower began to tilt in mid-air. James saw something pitch black.

"THE LAKE!" he screamed. "We're going to drop in the lake!" There was a splash, as Gryffindor tower smashed into the lake. Through the open windows, the starry sky disappeared and then water began splashing in. Everyone screamed. The lake was really deep. They were still sinking. James tried to scream but water filled his mouth. The fires were put out instantly. James motioned towards the window, as they began swimming out through the window. James was almost out of air. He felt a swarming in his brain. His life passed before him more than once. He lifted his head out of the water and gasped for air, doggie paddling. Lily, Sirius, Peter, Remus and Taylor stuck their heads out of the water as well. They began swimming to shore. Suddenly, Voldemort appeared. He didn't seem in the least bit upset. In fact, he seemed happy! He waved his wand and colossal waves, about thirty feet began crashing down on him. They all screamed and James saw the professors and the students ran out, looked at the place where Gryffindor tower had stood. They saw the waves and Voldemort and James, Lily, Taylor, Sirius, Peter and Remus. They began screaming as James, Lily, Taylor, Sirius, Peter and Remus were knocked down by a wave, bigger than the rest; it was about fifty feet. James tried to scream, but he was hoarse from screaming. Lily and Remus grabbed onto a door marked "2nd Years." They were safely to shore. Peter, Sirius, Taylor and James were still trying to stay afloat in the storm. James was separated by a wave from Peter, Sirius and Taylor. There was a sharp pain in his leg. It had been broken by a door, which was floating below him. He grabbed onto the door and tried to scream for help. He was knocked by another wave, still clutching on the door. He grabbed onto the doorknob and hoisted himself up onto the door. The waves continued crashing on him and he cried again and again for help. The entire lake seemed empty, he couldn't see anything. He heard faint words "Advara Kedavara!" A flash of green light came, but it reflected off of the wave and crashed onto Dimente. Dimente screamed and crashed onto the ground. He was dead. Dumbledore came up to Voldemort. Dumbledore raised his wand and a huge amount of wind came and blew Voldemort and the twenty wizards away, over the walls. Dumbledore waved his wand and the storm settled down. Dumbledore waved his wand and James flew out of the lake, onto the bank. He saw Lily, Sirius, Remus and Peter all sitting on the bank huddled under blankets. James tried to stand up, but he couldn't. Madam Pomfrey came rushing through the crowd and mended his leg. He joined the others under the blankets.

"Wait!" James said hoarsely. "Where's Taylor?" Everyone gave a look around. Dumbledore cleared his throat. James spun around and saw Dumbledore dragging Taylor's limp body out of the lake. James sat there, too dazed to say anything. Everyone began walking back into the Great Hall. James walked like a zombie. He had no feeling and no control over what he was doing. Everyone stood, since the ceiling, the windows and splinters of the tables were on the floor. James saw an empty chair at the staff table. He realized who was missing. It was Professor Banks. Dumbledore said something, which was followed by "Go back to your common rooms!" James walked up to Dumbledore.

"Er- Professor?" James croaked.

"Yes James?" Dumbledore asked.

"Where's Professor Banks?" James said. Dumbledore turned white.

"Didn't you hear my speech?" Dumbledore asked. James shook his head. "I'm sure you saw the green light from Gryffindor tower!" James nodded. "Well, see, Professor Banks tried to stop Voldemort from moving up to Gryffindor tower, to attack you guys! But, Voldemort killed-" James turned green.

"He killed Professor Banks?" James asked. Dumbledore nodded.

"He died a hero's death, James. He tried to stop Voldemort from getting you, but he failed. It was horrible!" James walked without feeling and without knowing where he was going. The Fat Lady was in a picture across the hall, gabbing about how she left her portrait just in time. He portrait, and the wall that it was on was gone. Dumbledore came running up.

"SORRY!" he said. He zapped up the tower from the lake. It squeezed itself out like a giant wash cloth and placed itself neatly back where it stood. The Fat Lady ran back to her portrait, letting people in. James came to his dorm, seeing the cauldron with the animagi potion tipped over. It had dripped out. James kicked the cauldron out of anger and stubbed his toe.

At the end of the year feast, James was very upset, about the loss of Taylor and Professor Banks. As was the other Gryffindors. After Dumbledore gave his annual speech, they all walked to the train, James felt numb, as he helped Peter and Remus and Lily board the train. He kissed Lily goodbye and he and Sirius began walking back to their homes in Hogsmeade, wondering if they'd be safe until the next year.


	4. James Potter and the Three Door Corridor...

**JAMES POTTER AND THE THREE DOOR CORRIDOR: YEAR 4**

by Professor Odysseus

-----

James read the Daily Prophet every day. He watched WNN, the news station, also. There was news of disappearances almost every day. And everyone knew why. There was a dark lord named Voldemort. He had started a killing spree, which had started with James' favorite teacher Professor Banks and James' friend Taylor Hitchcock. He had killed another dozen wizards over the summer. All wizards were scared of this new dark lord.

Despite the fear and tragedies of the Wizarding world, James and his best friend Sirius Black were in James' bedroom.

"I think," said James, munching on a Chocolate Frog. He looked at the list of Hogwarts supplies. "That our parents won't let us in Diagon Alley by ourselves!"

"Oh, boy! You're so smart, James!" Sirius said, sarcastically. "Come ON! After what happened last year? When we were trapped in Gringotts for a whole day? And with Voldemort on the loose?"

James nodded. "Yeah, you're right!"

"We're all going tomorrow to Diagon Alley, right?" Sirius asked. James nodded. Sirius reclined on his sleeping bag. He was staying at James' house while his parents were at Sirius' aunt's wedding. They both went to sleep. James forced his dreams away from Voldemort and onto the cruise the Potters and the Blacks were taking before school started.

Early the next morning, they awoke and went to Diagon Alley. Mr. & Mrs. Potter followed closely behind James and Sirius. James looked at his list. He pointed to Flourish and Blott's Bookstore, where James and Sirius bought their new textbooks. In Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions, James and Sirius each bought three new black robes. James' dress robes had a giant rip in them, since at the Christmas Party last year, they had torn, when Voldemort came and crashed their banquet. Sirius helped James pick out a new dress robe. James saw it and pulled it off the rack. It was very expensive. It was midnight blue with a high white collar and white cuffs. It was made out of silk and came with a matching cashmere cloak.

"Well, you do get the cloak too" James' mother said, as she looked at it.

"And it IS rip and stain proof, which is what he needs" Mr. Potter said. In the end they agreed to buy it.

Moving on to the last store, the apothecary, James and Sirius refilled their potion kit. Suddenly, as they were paying, someone let out a scream from the street. As James and Sirius stuffed the potion kit in their bags, they ran outside. James saw a flash of green light, then he saw people sprawled out in the middle of the street, dead. And you can imagine how that tied up traffic! The Minister of Magic and his crew came running onto the street. As they carried the dead off of the street, there was a loud bang. The tallest building in Diagon Alley, which was the Ministry of Magic Headquarters suddenly, exploded. Rubble fell from the building as it collapsed onto the shops below. There was screaming, as people fell from the windows of the Ministry building. James and his parents and Sirius sprinted to the grate, where they suddenly appeared in the Potter house.

The next day, Sirius' parents returned. They began to pack for their cruise, which was in two days.

On July 27, 1974, the Potters and the Blacks went to the docks on Diagon Alley. The seaman put their suitcases on carts. He took out a wand and zapped the carts away. As they walked up the gangplank onto the ship, the S.S. Esmerelda. The Potters and the Blacks had tea on their promenade. At noon, the ship began to cast off. They opened the windows on their promenade and waved at the crowd, who was watching the ship go. As James wiped his mouth with the napkins marked "Wizard Cruises: Making Cruises Magic, Literately!"

He and Sirius went shuffling along the decks that night, wrapped in warm winter cloaks, the night on the water was cold. Their parents were in their area of the promenade, having tea. James' mother had told him to wear his winter cloak; she was wearing her fur cloak. They had finally given and taken their cloaks. James put his thoughts to the fun that he had had today. He and Sirius had gone swimming and played Quidditch in the indoor Quidditch field.

The moon was out and the dim light from it vaguely lit the deck. James and Sirius leaned over the railing. Suddenly, a jolt almost knocked them overboard. The jolting didn't stop there. It was almost as if there was an earthquake on the ship, although the water was as calm as a sheet of glass. There was a flash of light. Voldemort was floating outside of the promenade. All of the nighttime strollers suddenly screamed and went running in all directions. James and Sirius went running to the stern, along the promenade. Like a machine gun, Voldemort fired curses. He kept missing them, sending the curses through the promenade windows and firing into the side of the ship. James and Sirius kept running towards the stern, James could see the Aft Well Deck ahead. He quickly threw open the door and he and Sirius ran through, slamming it closed after them. A curse struck the door, making a huge hole in it. They ran down the Aft Stairwell, which was beautifully decorated with white marble floors and cedar paneling. There was a beautiful marble and mahogany grandfather, which James almost knocked over, when he slid down the stairs. They came to a dead end. James was upset; he pounded on the wall. The panel opened. Downstairs, there were house-elfs. They were shoveling coal into the boilers, which made the ship go.

"Hello, sirs!" they squeaked, as James and Sirius raced through the boiler rooms. James grabbed open a plain white door and they ran down the plain staircase with ugly metal rails. They were in the cargo hold. Quickly, James grabbed his trunk and Sirius', that were in the corner. They grabbed their broomsticks and blasted off in the cargo. James quickly ducked, as he flew under a low rafter. They flew until they came to their staterooms. Locked.

"Alohomora!" James said. The door flew open. It was empty. Then James remembered they were having tea on the promenade. James opened the door to the promenade. He gasped at what he saw. There was a board, hanging from the bottom of the door, with a piece of a fur cloak. James gasped. The promenade was gone. It had been blown off by Voldemort. James and Sirius quickly ran up to the top deck.

"ACCIO!" James and Sirius yelled at the top of lungs. Suddenly, the Potters and the Blacks came jetting onto the top deck. They had made it in a niche of time; it looked as if they were all on their last gulp of air. They were soaking wet.

"What happened?" James asked, once his parents had regained their breath.

"We were having tea on the promenade, when the promenade shook and dropped into the sea!" Mr. Potter said.

"And my cloak got stuck on a piece of wood, but the cloak ripped. We were trapped under a piece of the deck!"

"Voldemort!" James said. "He's here!" Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Black both fainted simultaneously into their husband's arms. Once everyone was conscious, Mr. Black spoke.

"We have to get off the ship!" he said.

"How?" Sirius asked. "We don't have any floo powder and we can't apparate yet!" Suddenly, their door blasted open. It was Voldemort. He shot a curse, smashing the outside wall. There was a huge hole, then *gulp* the water. James quickly pushed his parents onto his broom; Sirius did the same. Then they pilled on, shooting off into the sky, dodging every curse. Voldemort yelled in frustration. The ship exploded into a million pieces, as did everyone and everything else on the ship. James felt a knot in his stomach. The ship was gone within three seconds.

They didn't stop flying until they were home. The next weeks were a blur. James, Sirius and their families were traumatized by the experience on the cruise. Soon, it was September 1st. James and his parents and Sirius and his parents all walked to the train platform, until students surrounded James and Sirius. Their parents didn't leave until their chariot to the castle had left.

James and Sirius were among the first to get to Hogwarts. James and Sirius waited in the courtyard, both sitting on small stone pillars. As they waited for Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Lily Rolins, they just sat talking. Then James looked down. He jumped up in an instant.

"Sirius!" he said. Sirius looked down and jumped up as well. On the pillars were small inscriptions. On the first on it read:

"Rest in Peace:

Professor R.W. Banks

1948-1974"

On the second one, it read:

"Rest in Peace:

Taylor R. Hitchcock

1959-1974"

James looked up from the pillars to Sirius. He had gone white. Professor Banks and Taylor Hitchcock were both killed by Lord Voldemort the previous school year. The tombstones began to shake as Professor Banks' head stuck out of the tombstone.

"Hi, boys!" he said, smiling. James and Sirius screamed. Turning around, they saw Taylor's head doing the same. Soon, Professor Banks and Taylor were both chasing them around.

"STOP!" Taylor called. James and Sirius didn't know why, but they stopped.

"Professor Banks! Taylor! You're, DEAD!" James said. Taylor and Professor Banks shrugged.

"Yeah? So?" Taylor asked, as if it was no big deal.

"Look at Professor Binns!" Professor Banks said. "Now we have something in common! Although Nearly Headless Nick is more fun to hang around with"

"But- but!" James began.

"Your animagi potion is gone. It spilled when it fell in the lake! Oh and it has a niche right under the buttons!" Taylor said. James looked at Taylor. He actually looked through Taylor.

"Gotta run!" Taylor said. "See ya later! Like in the afterlife!" He and Professor Banks flew back into their gravestones.

Remus and Peter came up to them.

"HEY!" Remus said.

"Professor Banks and Taylor! We just saw them!" James said. Remus fell to his knees laughing.

"No. REALLY!" Sirius said. "They were GHOSTS!" Remus stopped laughing.

"But they're dead" Remus began.

"WE KNOW THAT!" James yelled.

"Okay! OKAY!" Remus said. "Calm down! What did they say?"

"Taylor told us our animagi potion is gone, when it fell in the lake! And it had a niche under the buttons!" They walked up to their dorm. Their large cauldron, that was self-stirring, was over turned. It was empty. James, Sirius, Peter and Remus picked it up and looked at the buttons. Underneath it was a little niche. Remus turned green.

"You're right!" he stammered. They quickly ran down to the Sorting Ceremony. As they walked in, the hat erupted into song.

"Oh, there once was guy,

Who made me cry,

Then Gryffindor took me in,

And I was a king-pin!

I sort all firsties, big and small,

I sort those first years, I sort them all!

I sort them into houses of four,

This song isn't over, there's still more!

I sort 'em into Gryffindor,

Those who are brave,

I sort 'em into Ravenclaw,

Those who are smart,

I sort 'em into Hufflepuff,

Those who are loyal,

I sort 'em into Slytherin,

Those who are sly,

I've sorted students everywhere,

Yes, I've sorted them here and there,

I will sort you today,

Put me on, not too hard, or I'll break, I may!

I am a pro,

Where you go,

Is what I know!

I'm a scabby hat,

I'm an old and shabby hat,

But I'm really phat!

I know how to sort,

It's what I do best!

Hey look! The first years come in from port!"

Everyone applauded and the hat bowed. It was true. The first years didn't come on chariots. They sailed across the lake with Hagrid, the giant gamekeepers. The first years and Hagrid came in from a side door in the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall began calling names of first years. The sorting hat then picked their house. Soon, it was done and food popped up on golden dishes. James helped himself to some potatoes.

"You saw ghosts?" a voice asked. James turned his head around to see Lily Rolins. James swallowed his potatoes.

"Hi!" he said.

"You saw ghosts?" she asked again. She grabbed his sleeve.

"Excuse me!" James said to Sirius, Remus and Peter. Lily pulled him into the entrance hall.

"You saw GHOSTS?" she asked. James nodded.

"Can we go back in the Great Hall now?" he asked. Lily shook her head.

"No. What ghosts?" she said. She seemed worried.

"Just the ghosts of Taylor and Professor Banks. No big deal!" James said. He suddenly realized how unconvincing his choice of words had been.

"You saw GHOSTS!" she said.

"Okay. Yes. I did. Me and Sirius!" James said. He tried to walk back into the Great Hall. Lily stopped him.

"Listen, James! This is bad!" she said. James shook his head.

"How is it?" James asked.

"James! You're seeing ghosts!" Lily said, hugging him. She kissed him. They walked out of the Entrance Hall, into the Great Hall. Dumbledore began his announcements.

"I would like to say that all students are not to leave the grounds unattended, since Voldemort is on the loose. Now, we are perfectly safe here on campus!" Dumbledore added. McGonagall held up the Daily Prophet.

"And everyone knows after Dumbledore banished Voldemort last year, Dumbledore is the only one that Voldemort is scared of!" she said. Everyone applauded. Dumbledore blushed.

"And also, fourth years or above who would like to apply to be a prefect, please give your name to the suit of armor on floor three!" Dumbledore said. "A prefect needs to be someone who has rarely gotten in trouble and has good marks. And fourth years and above may apply for Head Boy or Head Girl. See the painting of Sir Cadogan on floor 7! Now, they must have excellent grades, the best grades out of all of the applicants! Now, return to your dorm!"

James and Sirius went up to the dorm and fell asleep.

The next morning, Sirius and James woke up extra early, they were working on their potion. It was going along well. Suddenly there was a loud call from the window. James and Sirius yelled and turned around. Taylor was floating by the window.

"Hey!" he said, floating over to the cauldron. "Good. You're getting it started again. His watch beeped. "Gotta run!" he said. "I'm teaching Nearly-Headless Nick to play basketball! Then we can verse Professor Banks and Peeves!" He zoomed out through the closed window. James and Sirius continued stirring until Remus and Peter woke up. Then they got dressed and left for potions.

Severus threw an exploding card. It hit James' cauldron and it exploded, shattering pieces of pewter. The pewter littered the dungeon. Professor Snape bared his teeth.

"Reparo!" James said. The cauldron fixed itself. Severus smiled as Professor Snape gave James a detention. James grabbed a dungbomb and threw it at Severus' cauldron. It exploded. Professor Snape glared at Severus. He gave Severus a detention. James could sing! But he didn't, because it would be very embarrassing, to break out into song during potions. Potions ended. Finally! James thought.

As he dragged his books upstairs at the end of the morning classes, he made a wrong turn. He leaned himself against a wood panel next to a painting of a magnificent castle corridor. He screamed as he fell deeper, deeper He landed with a thump. He screamed as a figure landed on top of him. Someone else screamed. James threw the figure off of him.

"Watch it!" said a familiar voice.

"Lily?" he said, shocked. Lily picked herself up. There was a rip in her backpack. Her books were littered the stone floor. Suddenly they heard a piercing scream. They both looked up, expecting to see someone dropping from the ceiling. No one came. The scream continued. It came from behind a door. James and Lily left their bags and books on the side of the room. The door was rotten; the wood had turned black and had mildew growing on it. James grasped the brass doorknob and pulled. The door was in James' hand. James threw it down on the stone floor and began walking down a corridor. The walls were covered with mold from the ceiling to the floor. The stone floor was chipped and cracked. Lily quickly followed behind him. The corridor got darker.

"Lumos!" James and Lily both said. Their wands lit up. James and Lily quietly walked through the corridor. He heard voices coming from behind a wall. As James and Lily walked on, they saw a row of three doors. The doors shuffled themselves like it was a deck of cards. James and Lily took the middle one. The corridor gave a giant lurch and Lily and James shot through the painting.

"How'd you get there?" James asked.

"See, for my art class, we have to copy a painting from the castle. I saw this one and it was really nice! I was looking at it and my bag ripped. As I picked it up, I hit my head and I zapped up there!" Lily said. She picked up her book, which was outside the painting. She also picked up a portfolio, obviously which was her art class homework. They're backpacks had miraculously appeared on their backs. They said goodbye and James ran up to his dorm. The potion was bubbling, but it wasn't on self-stir. Taylor was stirring it. His see-through arm was clutching a wooden spoon.

"HEY!" he said. He continued stirring. Professor Banks was floating around the cauldron, looking at it.

"No, no, NO!" Professor Banks said. "We need more lotus root not newt tails!" He grabbed a salt shaker and shook it in the potion. James threw his bag on his bed. He told them about the secret corridor and the three doors.

"There is a legend!" Professor Banks said. "Nick told me about it! The legend of the Three Door Corridor. Boy, was it creepy! See, there was once a man, who painted all of the paintings in the castle. He was measuring the wall for a painting, when he was zapped in. He walked down the stone corridor, just like you did. He came to the three doors, one is home, one is death and one is your worst nightmare. That painter was one of the best ever: Pierre-Simon Augustus. He wandered into the passage and got death. His life was sucked away from him like a straw sucking soda. No one really knows what happened, except that Augustus was last seen next to that panel. Then, here comes Hogwarts professor. He was leaning against the panel. Boom! He got worst nightmare. He told me that the goal is to make it to the back door, then you're home! He didn't make it and he was beheaded. Well, almost. But all of this is just a legend! Or is it? Nearly Headless Nick was that professor!"

James turned white. "Really?" he asked. Professor Banks nodded. He reclined inside the potion.

"Uh, Professor? You can die from being in there too long"

Professor Banks shrugged. "I'm already dead! Ahhh, feels like a Jacuzzi!" He zapped out. "Don't worry!" Professor Banks said. "I mean, the last person to go in there was Nick and that was about 475 years ago!"

"No!" James said. "The last people to go in there were me and Lily! Just ten minutes ago!"

Sirius walked in. "Hey!" he said. James told him about the three-door corridor. Sirius gasped.

"You know what we should do? We should see Nick!" Sirius said.

James and Sirius walked down to the common room, where Nick was in front of a mirror, adjusting his collar.

"Nick?" James asked.

"Oh, hi James!" Nick said. "What can I do for you?"

"Well" James said. "What do you know about the three door corridor?"

Nick turned white. "Not here!" he whispered. "Follow me!" He jetted down the hallway so fast; James and Sirius were running at full speed to keep up. Suddenly, they came to a small shed. James sat down on a small stool.

"No chance of anyone overhearing this!" Nick said. "So, about the three doors, see, there is a small room, the entranceway. I fell down through a panel on the third floor. Next to the painting of the castle corridor. See, I think that painting is the same corridor, only years before. The corridor isn't part of the castle, but another world, another land It is just so awful to think about it!" He shivered at the very thought. "Anyway, the doors shuffled themselves. Before they were shuffled, there were signs: 'Home' then there was 'Death' and then the last was 'Worst Nightmare.' And so, the signs disappeared. Then the doors began to shuffle. I thought I was going back home, but I went into worst nightmare. The goal is to get the door in the back of the room. But there was a revolution! Or rebellion or something! The grabbed me and magically tied me to the beheading machine and- here I am!" His head swung off of his neck. He pushed it back on. "However, if you make it past the worst nightmare, you get to be free!"

Within September, October and November nothing with the three-door corridor, James was avoiding it. Then, in December, James was in the hallway. He had just asked Lily to the annual Yule Ball on Christmas Eve. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped. It was Rob, the Quidditch captain. He hustled James onto the Quidditch field. Inside the Gryffindor locker rooms, James saw no new players.

"Hi! I'm Rob Tanner!" Rob said. "Now! Here's our official player list for the school year of 1974-1975!" Rob cleared his throat. "Seeker: Rob Tanner. Beaters: Sue Gregory and Taylor Hitchcock!" A fourth year with dark hair and dark brown eyes stood up. "Chasers: Jonathan Miller, Dave Charleston and Liz Desson!"

"WHAT?" everyone asked in unison. "Taylor is DEAD!"

"You read last year's list!" said Sue.

"HI!" Taylor said. Everyone screamed. "What?" he asked. Everyone screamed again. James, the one not screaming walked up to Taylor.

"Let me handle this!" he said. "EVERYONE! Taylor is a ghost. Obviously he is playing again this year!"

"Yeah and look at this!" Taylor said. He grabbed his beater bat and a bludger came shooting at him. Instead of hitting it with his bat, he just stood and waited. The bludger flew through his head. Everyone applauded.

"But can a ghost play on a team?" Jonathan asked. Rob shrugged. Madam Hooch came into the locker rooms.

"Hey! Madam Hooch?" Rob asked. "Can a ghost play on our team?" Whatever Madam Hooch was expecting, that wasn't it.

"W-well, if he's a Gryffindor student" she began. The team started cheering.

After their practice, James walked with Taylor, who was floating a foot above the ground.

"Have to finish my homework!" he said.

"You still have work?" James asked.

"Yup! I have my regular classes, then I have Ghost Studies. We learn all about ghosts and how to haunt places! It's really cool!"

"There's a ghost class?"

"'Course! Maybe I'll haunt a house someday" Taylor looked fond. He sniffed and wiped his nose with a handkerchief, which was the same pearly white color as he was. "Being dead does have its perks!" he said. "See, I don't have to worry about doing anything dangerous because I'm already dead! And I'll be around forever!" he said. James noticed a slight bit of pain in his voice. James could tell that his dream was to be alive once again.

Once back up in Gryffindor tower, James began putting ingredients in the animagi potion, which needed a lot of tending. After that, he began work the common room with Sirius.

"So, Sirius?" James asked.

"What?" Sirius asked, looking up from his homework.

"About the three door corridor" James began. Sirius quieted him.

"James! We have to get through our homework first!" Sirius shook his head and began working. James was bored with his homework.

"Sirius! Want to play exploding snap?" James asked. Sirius shook his head. James suddenly had an idea.

"So, Sirius! Want to go into Hogsmeade and get some stuff from Zonko's?" James asked. Sirius' eyes lit up and he smiled.

"Sure!" Sirius said. They both ran up to the dorm and grabbed the Marauder's Map and the invisibility cloak. They both tiptoed through the common room and they waited for the fat lady to swing open. They quickly dived through. James took the map from his robe pockets and showed Sirius which was they were going. They were on the third floor. James looked at the map. The mark marked "Sirius Black" and "James Potter" were pointing a wand with a speech bubble "Ladjokah!" James said it the best he could and the mirror swung open. They walked through the passageway and opened a door. They were in a small, dark room. James opened two doors. James realized the secret passageway was a storm cellar. It was overgrown. It was behind Zonko's Joke Store. James saw the back door, but he thought it was better to go through the front. Taking off the invisibility cloak, they walked around the building and inside Zonko's. After replenishing their bag of jokes, they walked towards the door. The silence was broken by a high pitched scream. James and Sirius ran to the window. Someone was lying dead in the middle of the street, with Voldemort's Dark Mark hovering above him. James and Sirius gasped in unison. Suddenly, the porch collapsed. The window shattered, sending Sirius and James darting backwards. James and Sirius screamed. James had an idea.

"Sirius! We have to get back to school! That's where we're safe!" James and Sirius put on the invisibility cloak and ran through the back room of Zonko's. The back door was locked.

"Alohomora!" James whispered. The door blasted open. James and Sirius ran over to the storm cellar. The doors were stuck.

"Hurry!" Sirius whispered, as James tried again and again to wretch open the doors. James broke open the doors and they dived into the cellar. James felt around for the door leading into the passageway. James found it and pulled it open. He slammed it behind him and Sirius and he started running into the castle. Getting into their common room, they finished their homework and went to bed.

The next morning was Christmas Eve. James had almost forgotten all about it, aside from the fact he had done his Christmas shopping. At 5:00, James and Sirius put on their dress robes. James was wearing his expensive robes midnight blue robe with the high white collar. As they walked into the common room, they saw Taylor swoop down.

"Taylor?" James said. "You're going to the Yule Ball?"

"Of course!" Taylor said. "Have to go and pick up my date. She's a ghost that lives above Honeydukes! Oh and I hear Dumbledore's not going to be here! He's in New York at a Order of Merlin Convention!" Taylor swooped away, out of the room. Sirius and James sat in front of the fire on armchairs. Ariel Linderson, a girl in Gryffindor, came up to them. She was going with Sirius. They exited the common room. Lily came down the girl's staircase. She was wearing sweeping velvet emerald green robes. She had a large diamond necklace on.

"Hello!" she said. They both exited the common room. James and Lily walked down to the Great Hall. As they opened up the large doors, James saw the beautifully decorated Great Hall. In the center, was a parquet dance floor. Surrounding that were dozens of small, two person tables. They were covered with white tablecloths. There were little white menus with golden trim. James saw the staff table. Dumbledore was not there, as Taylor had said.

A wizard led Lily and James to their table and they sat down. They picked up their menus and James shot off green and red sparks from his wand; what it said on the bottom of the menu to get a waiter. A waiter came running over and took their orders. The music started up and Lily and James began dancing. As they saw the waiter bring their food, they sat down and ate. The lights went out. After five seconds, the lights came back. They weren't the same lights. They were green. The windows shattered and the decorations fell down. Voldemort walked in. He appeared to be alone. Walking up to Lily and James' table, he shattered the vase on their table. The flowers fell limply onto the tablecloth. James tried to remain calm, as he felt Voldemort's breath on the back on his neck. Lily screamed. Voldemort stepped away from James and he waved his wand. A cyclone appeared in the middle of the dance floor. It grew until it was almost to the top of the Great Hall ceiling. It spun around the room, knocking down beams from the ceiling. Dust from the ceiling came down on everyone.

"Lily!" James whispered. "It's coming our way!" He grabbed Lily's hand and dived aside, as the cyclone reduced the table to dust. Lily's hair, which was up when they had come to the ball, was now sticking straight back from the wind. A curtain blew onto James' face. He grabbed it and threw it behind him. Still holding onto Lily's hand, he tried to get to the door. The wind was overpowering. James actually went backwards an inch or two. He and Lily walked into the wind, curving a tiny bit. They quickly jumped out of the open window. The landed in the tulip border below. The Great Hall from the outside looked just as distressed as the inside had. Christmas tree ornaments were flying out of the windows. Suddenly, the tree came pummeling through the wall.

"Hang on!" James said to Lily. "I'm going back in!" James ran up to the Christmas Tree-shaped hole and ran through, Lily at his heels. The cyclone had destroyed mostly everything. Suddenly, then a piece of ceiling shot down onto the dance floor. Dumbledore came flying in on a broomstick. Dumbledore raised his wand as Voldemort, who was clutching something shiny, disappeared.

"And stay out!" Dumbledore said. Everyone applauded. Lily got up from the floor.

"Oh no!" she said. Her necklace with the large diamond was gone. The chain was still there, but the diamond was gone.

"Your diamond?" James asked. She nodded.

"We got it from a man secondhand, it was only 5 galleons. I guess he didn't know it was real!" she said. The Great Hall was now how it had looked right before Voldemort came in. Everyone still had their hair and clothes wrecked by the wind, but they all sat down at the table to have a bite to eat. At 2:30am, Dumbledore made everyone leave. James and Lily walked up to the tower.

"I had fun!" she said, once they were in Gryffindor tower.

"Well, goodnight then!" James said, as he walked up the boy's staircase.

* * *

Over the next few months, James, the animagi potion and his studies went well.

One day in April, James was sitting with his essay in front of the fire. He was about to dip his quill in ink, when Dumbledore's voice came over the PA system.

"I would like to announce next year's prefects and head boys and girls," James continued writing. "Gryffindor prefects are Sue Gregory and Sam Olliana!" Sue and her friends started screaming with delight. Sam Olliana, a fifth year, wasn't here. James saw Lily look slightly disappointed.

"Slytherin prefects are Bill Charis and Jan Peters!" Dumbledore said. "Ravenclaw prefects are Jessica Stanley and Oscar Larson! Hufflepuff prefects are Helen Heidlman and Brian LeJonesberg!" Dumbledore's voice paused. "And now for the head boy and head girl!" James bit into his apple and put his quill into the ink.

"Both from Gryffindor! Lily Rolins and James Potter!" Dumbledore said. "That is all!" James saw Lily and her friends dancing around. Then he passed out. James spilled ink all over his robe. His pointed hat fell off of his head.

James opened his eyes. He was in the hospital wing. He saw something looming over his head.

"HI!" Taylor yelled. James jumped and almost fell off of the bed.

"I'm Head Boy!" James said. He turned white again. "But I didn't-"

"Yes!" Taylor said, full of pride. "I put your name in! I knew you'd be too shy to put it in, so I took the liberty of putting it in for you!"

"Taylor, if you were alive, I'd strangle you right now!" James said.

"You know what?" Taylor said. "You can thank me later!" He zoomed out of the room. Madam Pomfrey walked in.

"Good!" she said. "I'm glad you're up!" She kicked him out. James still had ink down the front of his robes.

"Head boy!" Sirius said, teasingly.

"Taylor put my name in!" said James, growling.

"Oh well. Still, I'm surprised that YOU got it!" Sirius said, jokingly. James pushed him.

"You're right!" James said. "They must have forgotten to ask Filch about our own private file cabinet!" Sirius laughed. Every time someone got into trouble with Filch, he put their name on a slip inside the file cabinet. Sirius and James didn't have a WHOLE file cabinet, but they did have at least a drawer or two

"Congratulations!" Lily said. She was holding a badge marked "Head Boy" in one hand and "Head Girl" in the other. "Here!" she said, stuffing it into his hand. "We can't wear it until next year, though!" She walked away.

James spent the next month and a half studying for finals and working on the potion.

"It's about ready!" James said, stirring. He had come back from his first final. His watched beeped.

"Gotta go!" he said. "I've got my Arithmancy final!" He grabbed his backpack and ran down the hall.

James sat down at his desk, chewing on his quill, as he wrote down the answers. At last, the bell rang. Professor Vector, the Arithmancy professor stopped him.

"James!" said Vector. "You're a head boy now, eh?" Vector smiled and James gave a weak smile back.

He walked with Lily, who also had Arithmancy too. James and Lily soon got lost.

"Where are we?" Lily asked. James didn't say anything. Lily was walking next to the wall. She grabbed his hand with one of her hands and ran her other hand along the wall. She hit the panel. The hallway swung out from under them. They were in the three-door corridor.

James and Lily both took out their wands. Backpacks on their backs, they began walking. Taylor and Professor Banks swooped down.

"Hi!" they both said. James and Lily both waved. Taylor and Professor Banks walked next to them.

They came to the three doors. The doors shuffled. They all finally agreed on the left one. They walked through, one by one.

"Hello!" said a voice. It was a recording. "You have entered worst nightmare! Thank you for your patronage!" It started over. James saw the speaker, stuck out his wand and blew it up. As he stepped forward, he saw a flash of light. It was Voldemort!

Voldemort had a diamond. Lily's diamond from her necklace, that had been missing since Christmas. He put it on a tripod and everything was aligned. He moved the light towards where everyone was standing.

James and Lily ran to one side, Taylor and Professor Banks on the other. The door exploded. Voldemort grabbed a spray can and sprayed Taylor and Professor Banks with it. They screamed. James saw the can. It was marked "Ghost-B-Gone." James realized what Voldemort was up to. James ran up to Voldemort and knocked the can out of his hands from behind. The can continued spraying. James darted forward and tried to grab it. Voldemort was holding his feet.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" shouted Lily. James came flying out of Voldemort's hands. James grabbed the can, which was still spraying and threw it aside. Professor Banks and Taylor were still shrieking. They looked as if they were melting.

"Goodbye!" Taylor cried. Then, they became puddles. James felt a fresh surge of rage. He saw Voldemort, who was having Lily tied up. James untied Lily and they ran to the door. It was locked.

Voldemort positioned the diamond at the door. James and Lily dived aside. The door shattered open with Voldemort's curse. James and Lily darted through the door. They were home.

"Oh I am so glad!" Lily said. She was panting.

"Taylor and Professor Banks!" James said. "They didn't make it!" Tears came from Lily's eyes. She hugged him.

At the end of the year feast, Dumbledore announced that Taylor and Professor Banks' ghosts were gone. Mostly everyone was in tears. Dumbledore tearfully dismissed them. James and Sirius wheeled their trunks to the platform.

James kissed Lily goodbye. "Maybe you can visit me over the summer!" she said. "We live in New York now! Have you ever been to America?" James shook his head. Lily, Remus and Peter disappeared, as the train pulled away.


End file.
